


The Unraveling

by ChelleyPam



Category: Dresden Files, Revolution - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-12
Updated: 2015-02-23
Packaged: 2018-03-07 05:58:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 23,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3163853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChelleyPam/pseuds/ChelleyPam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if everything you thought you knew over the past fifteen years had been a lie?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JaqofSpades](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaqofSpades/gifts).



Bass made his way to the side of the wheel. He folded his arms and looked out over the waters of Lake Michigan. "Can I tell you something, Brother?" 

Miles was still looking forward. "Sure."

"You are really starting to creep people out." He shrugged. "I mean, we get to Chicago and you go into zombie-mode, commandeer a boat and just head out into Lake Michigan muttering about needing to be somewhere. It's a bit creepy."

Miles kept piloting the boat. "Can't explain it, Bass. I just need to be somewhere."

"Yeah, that's what you keep saying. But why?"

His brow furrowed. "I don't know. I just know that I do."

"See? That's creepy." Bass pushed away and looked out over the waters. "Where are we going, Brother?"

"I don't know." Miles shook his head, frustration evident on his face. "I just know that there's somewhere I'm supposed to be and it's out in this lake."

"Okay. I'll back you. You know that, Brother. Let's find where you're supposed to be."

They cut through the waters in the boat Miles had commandeered, an old fishing boat retrofitted to steam power and called the Water Beetle. He'd homed in on it without hesitation and the boat's owner apparently paid to keep it always stocked and ready to go. Baker and Monroe stayed with Miles while the small group of men they'd brought for security helped themselves to the provisions below.

Miles began turning the boat with practiced ease. Bass turned to look out back over the waters. "What is it?"

"Stone reefs. Just under the water." Miles didn't explain who he knew this, he just piloted the boat around them. The island came into view, the mists off the lake water caressing the shoreline.

"Well, look at that. There is something out here."

Miles pulled the boat up to a small dock that had been built. Jeremy called up the men while Bass jumped over the side to tie them up. "What is this place, Miles?"

The men departed first, weapons out and eyes scouting for danger. Bass, Jeremy and Miles came off the boat. The moment they stepped off the dock and onto the island proper, the feeling changed. Everyone got real nervous. Everyone but Miles, who stepped forward.

There was a loud drag-thump sound moving through the trees. Everyone tensed. Again, everyone but Miles. He continued to walk forward as the trees shook and something massive, something that looked like a giant made of stone and with eyes glowing from a face that could not be clearly scene, came into view. Miles walked right towards it.

Bass' fingers tightened on the trigger of his weapon. "Miles? Back away from that thing!"

Miles didn't appear to hear. He just looked at the thing. When he spoke, his voice carried over the grounds. "Alfred."

The thing inclined its head. It's own voice sounded like a massive rock slide. "Warden."

And Miles collapsed to the ground.

~***~

The soldiers opened fire on the thing. Or at least they tried. Their weapons were pulled from their hands and slammed into the soil of the island. "Cease your actions."

Bass moved forward, falling to his knees beside Miles. His brother was shaking, seizing. "What did you do to him?"

"The lies are unraveling. His mind is becoming his own again. He is waking." The thing, Alfred, turned away. "There is shelter. Bring him."

Bass swallowed. The seizure had stopped and Miles was unconscious. "Jeremy, get his legs." together they carried him up the hill after the massive creature to what looked like a cottage connected to the ruins of a light house. The thing, Alfred, was nowhere to be seen, but the cottage door was open and a fire was already burning in the hearth. there was a bed against one wall and they put Miles onto it.

The men secured the perimeter outside as Bass and Jeremy puzzled over things. "what the fuck was that thing, Sir?"

"No idea. And why did it call Miles 'Warden'? For that matter, how does Miles know it?" Bass checked his brother, pressing his fingers against his neck and finding a strong pulse there. 

"He okay?"

"Other than being out cold, looks like. C'mon, Miles. Open your eyes, Brother."

"Sir! That thing's back! Got someone with him!"

Bass reached for his side arm, but it was still pinned to the dirt by the docks. He nodded for Jeremy to take up a position by the door as he went towards the drag-thump sound. The thing was back, and there was someone with it. An achingly beautiful woman with white hair and wearing a simple, graceful dress embellished with what looked like opals. She halted when she saw Bass. 

"Please, let me pass."

"I need a name, first."

Her expression was pensive, worried. "Molly. I'm here to help."

"And I'm to trust that, why?"

The pensive expression melted to irritation. She rolled her eyes. "Look, I know him well enough to know he'd be pissed to wake up to learn I've clobbered the lot of you just to get to him, so don't make me do it. Alfred says his head's been fucked with, and that's always been my thing. And I don't have much time. I'm only being allowed enough time to assess the situation before our boss shows up."

Bass pondered it. His brother was still unconscious and he didn't know why. He stepped aside and let her in. The thing walked off again.

Molly knelt down beside the bed. "Oh, Harry."

"His name is Miles."

"His name is Harry Dresden, and he's been missing since the lights went out." She paused and turned to look at him. She took in his uniform, then Jeremy's. "Miles? As in Miles Matheson?"

"Yeah, that Miles."

The woman rolled her eyes with a bitter laugh. "Wonderful. He's been hidden in plain sight all this time. I knew we should have been keeping a closer eye on you idiots."

She turned back to lean over Miles, her fingers going through his wild hair. "Bad, very bad. Good work, whoever did this."

Bass dared to step closer. "What do you mean?"

"Someone's built an entire new identity over the real one. It's rich. Detailed. Goes all the way back to childhood. Looks like they constructed an entire family. He'd have been a sucker for that."

Bass felt a growing sense of unease. "Listen, Lady, I don't know what you think you know, but I've known this man my entire life.:

She looked back at him. "Have you? Are you certain of that? Think back, to when the lights went out. Think hard on it."

He didn't want to. Something niggled at the edges of his mind and started to build like a pressure behind his eyes. "We were on our way back to base after getting some beers." The pressure behind his eyes twinged again. "I was sexting this chick I met at the bar and Miles' brother called him."

"What was his brother's name?"

Bass frowned. "Ben." There was a sharp pain that shot through his head. He winced. Jeremy stepped forward.

"Sir, you okay?"

Molly took a careful breath, watching him. "Go back to the bar. What were you doing?"

"Me and Miles were having some beers. Chatting up some cute coeds." He winced again. He could see the bar in his head, but something was wrong. There was no Miles. There were other men from his squad. "Miles wasn't there."

"You're right. Miles wasn't there. What happened at the bar?"

Bass frowned. "The lights went out." That wasn't right. It couldn't be right. He had known for fifteen years that he and Miles had been on the road when the power went out. "I was there with my squad when the lights went out. Planes started falling out of the sky. People were panicking. We settled the situation, escorted everyone home before heading back to base."

He sat down in a nearby chair. His head was pounding. Jeremy pulled his sword, leveling it at the woman. "What are you doing to him?"

"Nothing. I'm just helping him see through the lies. Someone else did this to him, but it's not as complex as what's been done to Harry. That's why he's still conscious while Harry's out of it." Bass heard her step closer. "Keep going. What happened?"

"We got to base. It was locked down. Our CO was talking to Miles." He stopped. "No, not Miles. It was Miles but it wasn't Miles. He said his name was..." He couldn't say the name. He couldn't say it.

"Describe him."

Bass swallowed through the pain. "Tall, well over six and a half feet. Long leather coat. Carrying a walking staff of some kind. The Major, he said he was some kind of civilian consultant. That my squad was to gear up and go with him. Only he didn't want to take us. Said it was too dangerous. We'd get killed."

"That sounds like him. Now, try again. What was the man's name?"

Pain shot through Bass' skull like a knife of ice. "Dresden!" He shouted the name. "Harry Dresden!"

A lifetime of memories and childhood mayhem started to unravel. It was no longer him and Miles playing soldier, but Bass and two other boys. Birthdays without Miles. It wasn't Miles who had stopped him from eating his gun that night in the graveyard, but an officer also home from the holidays. His CO had called him up and told him the story. The weathered Colonel had hunted him down and talked him out of it, then drove him to the nearest VA hospital for observation. Miles had never been to war with him.

The pain began to recede and Bass looked at the unconscious man on the bed. He got up, aware he was shaking. "There were.... things that night. Nightmares that were taking advantage of the chaos. We followed Dresden, we backed him, but he was right We didn't need to be there. He spent more time trying to keep up alive than fighting them. My whole squad... lost them all. Just me and him. That's all that was left. Then whoever was behind the monsters, he called it a 'Warlock', made a final move."

The woman, Molly, stiffened. "A warlock. What happened with the warlock?"

"I was out of Ammo. Dresden, Id never seen shit like that. One moment he's throwing around fire, the next wind, next thing I knew he was throwing up walls of ice. I couldn't see the other person, but I knew it was a woman. Kept saying it wasn't personal between taunting him Asking him if he was there was a warden or there on behalf of Winter."

"Both, actually, but that's not important." Molly swallowed. "I take it the warlock won."

Bass frowned. "Yeah. Our CO should have listened. He'd probably have taken her down if he hadn't spent so much time trying to keep us alive He fell, right in front of me. Had a monster of a handgun in his coat. I pulled him behind me, took the gun and faced her down. But she said something and I was locked into place. She just walked up to me, looked at me and said 'You'll do nicely'."

Cold eyes. Cold expression. The kind of woman you know it a total bitch on sight.

"Do you know her name?"

The voice was new. Beautiful. Feminine. And painful. Molly shot to her feet, her head bowed respectfully. "My Queen."

Standing in the doorway was a woman that made Molly look almost common. Her hair was pure white and captured up by bejeweled combs sparkling with opals, dark sapphires and amethysts. Her gown was elegant, regal, and seemed to change colors in an iridescent rainbow of matching colors. Her lips were beautiful and the color of frozen berries and as she walked into the cottage towards Bass he felt the urge to fall to his knees before and swear his eternal loyalty to her.

"Tell me, Mortal General, do you have a name for this creature who dared to take my knight from me?"

Bass swallowed. "We know her as Rachel Matheson."


	2. Chapter 2

“Charlie! Charlie, wake up!”

She was screaming as she woke, then was screaming again as she threw herself away from the boy who had shaken her awake. This resulted on her falling onto her butt on the floor. “Who are you!? Where am I?”

Danny blinked. “Charlie, calm down. It's me! It's Danny!”

_Madre de Dios, me libre. Protégeme de este mal!_

Danny frowned. “Uhm... what?”

The door to their room opened. Ben and Maggie were still pulling on their robes to ward off the chill. “Danny, are you all right?”

“I'm fine. I think Charlie had a nightmare.”

Ben hesitated for a moment as Maggie pushed past him to check and see if she was all right. The girl continued to scream and crab walked back from them. “Who are you?!”

“Charlotte, it's me. It's Maggie. You're safe.”

“Where's my father?” She was looking around frantically. _“¿Dónde está mi padre?”_

Maggie was pushed aside as Ben crouched down, taking Charlie gently by the shoulders. “Sweetie, I'm right here. I'm right here.”

Charlie's eyes went wide, her head shaking from side to side. “You're not my father! Where's my father?” She struggled to get away from him, her voice raising to a screech. “MOUSE! MOUSE! HELP ME!”

“She's going into hysterics. I have something to calm her down. Danny, come with me.” Maggie pulled Danny out of the room while Ben grabbed Charlie by the head. They were out of ear shot when the timbre of his voice changed.

“Magaret Angelica Rodriguez Dresden, you will listen to me.” There is power in names, and he had said every syllable with perfect inflection. The girl froze in his hands. “You are Charlotte Marie Matheson. Your parents are Ben and Rachel Matheson. Your mother was lost to us years ago, and now we live here with your younger brother Danny and your step-mother Maggie.” She whimpered, fighting the compulsion, but it was so deeply rooted and had been in place for so long it took him little effort to reinstate it. “You had a nightmare. You don't even remember it. You're going to drink whatever foul smelling tea Maggie is going to bring you and go back to sleep, and tomorrow everything will be fine.”

He felt her will give in to his again. The spell they'd laid out the night of the Blackout once they'd gotten her away from her guardians was strengthened by the bits of her they'd managed to nab. He had to keep it strong on this end or Dresden's end might start to come undone. That was something they did not want to risk again.

~***~

“Are you feeling better this morning, Charlie?”

“Uhm... yeah? Wasn't aware I was feeling bad.”

Maggie frowned. “After that night terror of yours? I figured you'd still be shaken.”

Charlie frowned. “Night terror? I slept like the dead. I don't even remember waking up to check on Danny.”

“That's because you woke me up screaming about monsters.” Danny tugged her hair sharply as he walked past her. “What were you dreaming about, anyway?”

“What are you two talking about?”

“You woke up screaming that Dad wasn't your dad and speaking gibberish.”

“Spanish, actually. Which I didn't know you even knew.” Maggie felt of her forehead. “Are you sure you”re all right? Maybe you should stay home today, take a break from hunting.”

In spite of Maggie's caring nature, Charlie rebuffed the woman's attempts to show affection or concern as she pulled on her jacket and grabbed her crossbow. “I'm fine, Maggie. You coming, Danny?”

~***~

Rachel was seated on the plush love seat of her 'suite', reading a copy of the Illiad 'Miles' had gotten for her. Implanting the suggestion of an affair and a deeply abiding love within the man had been genius on her part. Her husband hadn't cared for it, but she let him have his little distraction without a fuss so she didn't see where he had much in the way of room to talk.

_Rachel!_

Her head came up. She scanned the room until she spied the crystal wine decanter she'd asked be left in the room. The faceted stopper was shimmering. Shutting the book, she got up and crossed over to the table. Flipping over one of the matching goblets, she poured some of the dark red wine into it. It only took a moment for her husband's face to shimmer into view in the surface of the wine. “Miss me, my love?”

_Always, but there may be problem._

Rachel frowned. “What's happened?”

_The girl had a dream last night. A nightmare. When she woke she insisted I wasn't her father, was speaking in Spanish and calling for that dog we nearly didn't get her away from._

Rachel shuddered. That had been no ordinary dog. As large as some of the newer, trendier cars of the time and far too intelligent. She would have sworn is was a temple dog from Tibet, but why would such a creature ally itself with someone like Harry Dresden? “Where you able to patch it?”

_Yes, I was. And I have some hairs from her brush from this morning. I'll restrengthen the spell this evening when the moon is up._

“Good. We can't have her remembering. If the spell crumbles on her end it will snap back to the wizard.” That would never do. The bargain they'd made had been clear. Harry Dresden had to live, the Winter Mantel had to remain dormant and hidden, but trying to mind fuck a wizard of his caliber had not been easy. Going at him through his bloodline had been the best way.

Rachel shuddered again and realized it was from cold, not fear. She would need to put another log onto the fire. She was about to excuse herself to do so when she saw the windows of her room start to grow opaque with ice. It was chilly in Philadelphia, but not that cold. She breathed out and saw the plume in the air. “Change of plans. Kill the girl!”

Ben's expression balked in the surface of the wine. _What? Rachel, I can't just kill her. I've raised her! Our son thinks she's his sister!_

“She's not his sister!” The room was growing colder. “They're onto us! I'll buy you as much time as I can, but you have to flee. The girl will only slow you down!” She heard the cracking protest of the door to her 'prison' as the wood froze solid and shattered. With a swipe of her hand she knocked the glass over, causing the crystal to fall to the floor and shatter, the wine spilled and the connection to her husband gone with it.

Rachel Matheson turned to face her attackers, muttering under her breath and gathering power to herself, but it wasn't Harry Dresden, Winter Knight, who stalked through the door. A woman of uncompromising beauty from the inky blackness of her hair to the jet black of her gown strode through. She twitched a single finger and Rachel cried out in pain at the sudden bonds of thick ice that encircled her, breaking her concentration.

Mab, dressed in her role of judge and jury, strode towards her in a whisper of silk, ice and frost forming on the surface of every bit of fabric, wood and glass as she did so. “I believe you and I have much to talk about about, Little Warlock.”

~***~

Kill Charlie.

Kill Charlotte.

Kill Maggie.

He had to think of her as Margaret Dresden, the daughter of the man who had killed at least two queens of Fairie. The man whose own people thought he was the magical equivalent of the Anti-Christ.

The man who had exterminated an entire race when they had been stupid enough to kidnap his daughter.

Ben Matheson swallowed hard. He didn't know why she broke through the spell after all these years. They'd built it off bits of hair and a swab of cotten with her blood on it after she'd gone to the school nurse with a nose bleed. It'd been easier to get genetic material off the kid than off a full grown wizard like Dresden. He wasn't even sure that he and Rachel could have killed the man with both of them combined. 

From what he'd heard, he doubted they could have, but the deal had been clear. Their son's health would be fixed in exchange for their help. The person who had hired him hadn't wanted Dresden dead, he wanted him out of commission. Hidden. Altered in such a way at that the mantel of the Winter Knight did not snap back to the Queens to be handed out to another candidated. Whomever had hired them, and they still weren't sure who it had been, had wanted the Queen of Winter weakened. 

The intel had been good. Figuring away around that damn temple dog hadn't been easy. Then there'd been the girl's step-mother, an ex-cop with more than her fair share of street smarts and martial training, and the house next door to the one she shared with her family that was guarded by a cadre of freaking angels and the two seemingly normal houses in the same neighborhood that were actually the headquarters for fae creatures. The kind of fae that clearly came from the Winter Court, which made sense since Dresden was the Winter Knight.

Add all the above and a pack of damn werewolves that looked like they came from pre-History tracking them, and they'd about never gotten the kid out of Chicago. 

And building the false memories, erasing Dresden and his daughter, and hiding the Winter Knight's mantel, was still easier going through the kid than trying to go through the father.

But last night something had broken through. Given that she's reverted to Spanish, he was guessing back when she was younger. Maybe even the same time as the show down with the Red Court. Which meant that her nightmares probably had something to do vampires and human sacrifice and blood. 

And Rachel wanted her killed.

At least he was better with potions and poisons than his wife. And with his girlfriend being a doctor who had embraced herbalism so that there was an expansive garden to choose from, he would be able to do it quietly and painlessly. Slip it in to her morning tea and she'd be out hunting when it hit her. She's just get tired, maybe sit down for a breather, and just slip off to sleep.

Ben pushed back all the years of smiles and giggles and hearing her call him 'Daddy'. He'd taken her real daddy from her. Taken away her friends. Hell, he'd even taken away her face, changed her coloring so she'd look like Danny and Rachel and there wouldn't be any hits of her birth mother's Latin heritage. He had to remember that she wasn't his, regardless of the past fifteen years. 

Danny would take it the hardest. Maggie, too. Still, if Winter was on to them, they didn't have a choice.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry woke up with a splitting headache and a set of memories from a life he never lived warring for dominance with his own.

“Easy, Boss. Here, drink this.”

Molly. He cracked his eye open a bit to make sure it was Molly, then accepted the tin cup of water. It was from the well spring on Demonreach. He could tell from the mineral taste to it. The water was potable, hell, pre-Blackout it could have been bottled and sold under some fancy name at an insane price, and he welcomed it. There were enough willow trees on the island it resulted in a mild, natural analgesic property to the water. That'd been his favorite part about it.

He swallowed and grimaced. “Tell me that was all some fucked up dream.”

“Sorry, Boss. There really was an apocalypse.”

“The Nickleheads?”

“No proof, but it's the kind of thing that's right up their alley.”

He sat up in the bed , running a hand thru his hair. It was slick with some kind of pomade. He never used pomade. His hair was always a disorganized mess, mainly because he usually tried to cut it himself or have Toot do it. He frowned at his now greasy hand and then down at his clothes. He closed his eyes and groaned. “Fuck, that wasn't a dream, either?”

“Nope, you've spent the last fifteen years being General Dick-Head.” Molly paused. “Well, to be truthful, it's probably only been the past ten years. It took the two of you a while to get things really going.”

“Yeah, that makes me feel better. At least I didn't do any of it with magic.” He frowned. “I don't think I even knew I had magic.” His hand went to his hair again and he winced. “I need a bath.”

“Done.” Fae magic. Little Molly was getting way too scary. Good thing they were on the same side. One moment nothing, next moment there was a hot steaming tub of water waiting for him. 

“Is it allowed for the Winter Lady to summon _hot_ water?”

“Why, you gonna tell on me? Go ahead and get to it. You're a little ripe.” He stayed on the bed and she shrugged. “What?” He arched a brow at her and she sighed. “Fine.” She waved her hand and a nice room divider screen appeared to give him some privacy. “You're such a prude sometimes.”

Harry was still trying to sort out his thoughts. “I came here with Militia guys, right?” He had moved behind the screen and was getting out of his uniform so he could take advantage of the bath.

“Yep. President Monroe, some officer named Baker and a few guards. The guards are still here. They stay outside. I think they're afraid Alfred will squish them if they try to come in.”

He sunk into the water and racked his brain, sorting through details. “The swamp is reclaiming the city without power to hold back the waters, but not all of it. Where's Karrin? Where's Maggie?” His stomach clenched in dread. The pain grew when Molly hesitated. 

Bracing himself, he took in a breath and let it back out. “I know it's been hell, Kid. Make it quick, like ripping off a band-aid.”

“Well, we lost Karrin a few years back in a riot. Dad's gone. Mom spends most of her time helping at Saint Mary's. All the chaos, and they couldn't pull that place down. And... we don't really know where Maggie is, though now I'm getting a better idea.”

He was aware that his temper was in danger of flaring. It did that sometimes. That the fire in the heart got higher for a moment was a clear sign. “Walk me through it.”

“While you were out of it, I was studying that mind spell used on you. It's linked to you genetically. Getting hold of anything of yours, like hair or blood, would have been nearly impossible. But Maggie vanished about the same time you did. We found Mouse, he's alive, but he was beat all to hell. Whoever took her fought hard to get her. I'm thinking that's how they did it. They worked a mind mojo on both of you, using her as the primary anchor.”

He swallowed. “So, my coming out of it... does that mean...?”

“No!” she reassured him quickly. “At least, I don't think so. Harry, I don't think Miles Matheson has ever been to Chicago since the Blackout. The moment he did, though, you made a beeline for the island. I think...I think the bond between you and Demonreach brought you here, and being back on your home turf cracked the spell.”

He let out a sigh of relief. “So Maggie's still alive. Where's Gwen?” He couldn't forget his other 'daughter'.

“Yeah, uhm... there's some other stuff that happened. A while after the power went out and you went missing, Karrin eventually noticed something was off.”

He reached for a bar of soap and started scrubbing that damn pomade out of his hair. “You mean other than all the power being gone?”

“Like getting sick to her stomach and not having a period. You've got a son, Harry.”

The soap slipped out of his hands, shooting across the floor and under the gap in the screen. A moment later it came sailing back over the top of the screen to splash into the water. Getting a face of heated water snapped him out of it. “What? Karrin was pregnant?”

“Yeah, and we were all bit nervous about that. No power. Late pregnancy which increased possibility for complications. Then there was making her actually slow down.”

“How'd you manage that?”

“Well, my mother started it, when that didn't work your god-mother put her weight behind it along with Thomas. When all three of them failed, Mab showed up and advised her that, while you were missing and clearly not dead, your responsibilities fell to her to fulfill, and if she didn't behave herself she was going to find herself in Arctis Tor, locked up in your personal suite for the duration of her pregnancy.”

He almost choked. “Did that work?”

“Not at first. Karrin told Mab she wouldn't dare, so Mab did. Took about two weeks for her to agree to behave herself so she could get out.” Molly snickered. “I'm sorry, but it was kind of funny.”

“I'm surprised that Karrin didn't try to kill her.”

“She was a little busy making a new life.”

Harry had missed another child. And he'd lost another mother of his child. “What's his name?”

“Michael Thomas. He started showing signs of some pretty strong magic around age ten. That was tricky. It was no secret who his father was and you have your fair share of enemies. Maggie was already missing and the list of people you'd trust to train him and keep him safe is rather short. I didn't think you'd want him taught by Lea and I didn't have the time or skills to do it. McCoy and Listens to Wind are too busy and Carlos has his hands full in California.”

“Who has him?”

“Rashid. Mouse and Gwen are with him as well. It was McCoy's idea. He said that Rashid was one of the few wizards he would have trusted with you, so he knew we could trust him with Michael.”

“That's true.” Of course, that means he got a lot of his training while at the Outer Gates where things were in a constant state of war. “What's he like?”

“Serious, like most kids born after the Blackout. Tough, like his mother, and probably going to end up taller than you at the rate he's going. He's a strong evocator, but Rashid has managed to get him well grounded in the more delicate stuff, too.” She paused. “He has your hair, but he has his mother's eyes. And he has enough temper from the both of you.”

“Ouch. That's gotta make Rashid's life interesting.” He wished he knew how to get back to the Gates. He wanted to see his son. “Does he know about me?”

“He knows. And he knows you're alive somewhere. We all knew that, because the Mantle didn't return to any of the queens. We just couldn't feel you any longer, and we tried. Believe me, we tried.”

“Huh...” He scrubbed some more while he thought that over. “Only reason to do something like this would be to rob Mab of her knight. To weaken her. Otherwise, it'd just be easier to kill me. The Outsiders?”

“Trying harder, but still being kept at bay. Mab's even gone to the wall a couple of times to fight directly, and that is something I never wish to see again. She's terrifying.”

“Okay, so they may need to stop and regroup once they realize I'm back. Now, if we think it was Demonreach that broke the spell and not something happening to Maggie, how do you think that my getting my mind back will affect her?”

“From what I could tell of the spell, it should unravel back in her direction. It may already be doing so. She should start getting her memories back as well, if she hasn't already. That should also make finding her easier. And we've already identified at least one of the Warlocks behind the spell.”

The water in the tub started heating again as his temper flared. “Rachel Matheson, or whoever she is. That means the other one is probably the man calling himself 'Ben'. They set themselves up in my mind as my brother and his wife.” He grabbed up a nearby pitcher and used it to pour water through his hair to rinse it out. “Two kids; Charlie and Danny.” He froze. “Charlie.”

“What about him?”

“It's a nickname for Charlotte. She's a girl, and this sounds like the kind of thing at least one of them would need to keep her close at hand to maintain.”

“So this 'Charlie' is probably really Maggie. Yeah, that tracks.”

“I've been looking for them since the lights went out. Well, Miles-me has been.” He considered that. “Likely the real me working towards it. They split up, though. He took the kids and Rachel came with us, about eight or so years ago. There had to be a reason for that.”

Molly tossed a towel over the screen. It landed perfectly next to the tub. Spooky. “Likely. Try to think on that. Did anything happen?”

He wished he could pry his head open and just dig the memories out. The spell still tried to fuck with him, but he pushed through it. “Soul gaze. I got caught up in a soul gaze with Monroe. I don't think he fully comprehended what happened, but it was enough to start cracking the spell. I remember I became obsessed with finding Ben after that.”

“You were starting to remember. You were going after the warlock who most likely did this, or at least your inner-you was. He's the bitchier one.”

“But I didn't get Ben. Rachel came instead. Huh.” He heard a snort from behind the screen. “What?”

“You're inner neanderthal is showing, Boss. You targeted Ben because he was the male, but if I were going to do something like this, I'd split up so that the stronger power was with the fully trained wizard with mental walls harder than Fort Knox. Rachel was the bigger threat.”

“And Rachel has been in Philly with me since then. Damn it.” He got up and started drying off. “I need to get back to Philly.”

“Mab's already on it. Monroe and Baker went with her, but they left the guards to make sure you're safe. Her Majesty is...well... I don't think there are words to describe just how pissed off she is at the moment.” 

Harry shuddered. “Yeah, not looking forward to that reunion.”

“Oh, she's not mad at you, but she's going to probably send you after whomever was behind this and she'll want their heads on pikes. I wouldn't mind getting in on some of that action myself. Could probably even get some of the White Council to throw in as well. You had more admirers than you realized among the younger wardens. Everyone was a bit shaken when you vanished.”

He looked down at the uniform and grimaced. “I, uh, don't suppose any of my old clothes are still around.”

“I sent for something a little more Harry-esque while you were sleeping. Head's up.” A duffle bag came flying over the screen, perfectly landing into his hands. He frowned.

“Grasshopper, you can't _see_ thru this screen, can you?”

“Of course not. What would be the purpose of having it up?”

He wasn't completely convinced, but decided to go with it and pulled open the zipper. Jeans, socks, underwear and a t-shirt that read _Stand Back! I'm Doing Magic!_. He grinned and started pulling on the clothes. “Nice tastes, Kid.”

“I thought you might like them. Let me know when you're decent.”

He was pulling up the jeans and fastening them. “I'm good.” The screen, tub and wet or dirty laundry all vanished to reveal a smiling Molly holding a black leather duster and a pair of what looked to be pre-Blackout military issue jump boots. “You really know how to make a man feel welcome, Molls.”

Her smile turned sad. “I missed you, Harry. We all have.” She handed him the boots and waited until he had them on before offering up the coat.

He peered at the leather. “Hey, you've already worked in the spells onto this.”

“Yep. I finally met Bob. Butters asked him why he would never speak when I was around and rescinded your command that he keep quiet with me. Now we all know why. He's a real perv. Anyway, he knew about how you spelled your old coats and gave me the specs.”

“Butters is still around, then?”

“Yeah, can you believe it? Between that Jedi-rip-off sword of his and all the tricks and artifices Bob helps him with, he's actually one kick ass Knight of the Cross. And you'll never guess who holds Amorachius now.”

“I give up. Who?”

“Thomas.”

He blinked. “What?”

“Yeah, surprised the hell out of all of us, too. Traded his near immortality for it, though. The demon part of him couldn't hack it. Thomas taking up the sword and becoming a Knight means he's stickily mortal, now, which is good for him and Justine. They can be together without him hurting her. No more threesomes, though.”

A bark of laughter escaped him, but Harry couldn't help but smile. His big brother finally got his happy ending. He knew part of Thomas dreaded the day that his demon fed one time too many on Justine and killed her, but if he was finally free of that part of himself, then he could be happy.

And he'd lost Karrin. 

“Harry?” Molly sounded concerned as she reached for him. He had wavered a bit.

“Sorry, it's just... it's finally all sinking in. Karrin.” He sat down, his eyes tearing up. They'd gotten married in a simple ceremony in Wolf Park not even two years before the Blackout. It had taken him months of on his knees begging to get her to say 'yes'. She had been terribly gun-shy after three failed marriages to shackle herself to him. But after he'd drug his feet too long about Susan, he wasn't going to lose his chance at happiness again. 

He suspected that, in the end, Mamma Murphy was the one who got her to accept, for the sake of his daughter. It just wasn't seemly for her to be sleeping over with a child in the house, after all. And Maggie had loved Karrin, and not just because they were almost the same height. Karrin had spent time with her, taught her the basics of the different martial arts she'd been studying most of her life, was able to talk to her about girl stuff and Mouse liked her. If the dog liked you, you were a good person.

“I know, Harry. We recovered her body. I brought her out here. Alfred let me bury her close to where Mab put Meave and Lily. When you're feeling stronger, we can go out and see her.”

“I'd like that.” He rubbed at his eyes. “Right. So. To sum up; I have a son named after your father and my brother who is currently with the Gatekeeper as his apprentice. My spirit-of-intellect daughter is with her brother as well as Mouse, so both kids should be well guarded. Rashid is no lightweight. My brother is now one of the Knights of the Cross...wait...how did you get the sword?”

“Alfred let Karrin go down for it. Bob and Butters were here, and Bob went with her to keep any of the inmates below from whispering in her ear. She wanted to make sure only the sword got brought up. The other artifacts are still down there, and Butters and Sanya got the Grail back from the Denarians. It's down there, too, though I don't know if the Church knows about that.”

“You think they didn't report back?”

Molly shrugged. “Sanya still claims to be agnostic and Butters is Jewish. Neither of them are real close to the Church, and communications aren't that great with the power out. They get their marching orders mainly straight from angelic messengers, now. Some of the White Council's wardens act as ferrymen for them thru the Never Never, stickily on a volunteer basis. The White Council does not officially side with the Catholic Church or the Knights of the Cross.”

“So they decided to bring the Holy Grail to a place that acts as a prison for every nasty thing that goes bump in the night that can't be killed and left it here along with four other holy artifacts all connected to the Crucifixion?”

“Butters said it was Uriel's recommendation.”

“Of course. Mr. Sunshine.” He shook his head. “I don't like that.”

“You don't trust an archangel?”

“It tells me the corruption we suspected in the Church when Laschiel's coin got back out so quickly probably goes more deeply than we thought. It tells me that he doesn't trust the relics with the Church right now.”

“Or he just wants to keep them out of the way so you can get to them if you need them. Not everyone in the Church would agree that a wizard needs to be in possession of things like the Shroud or the Holy Grail.” Molly rolled her shoulders. “I'm more worried about what they think you're going to be facing that you will need artifacts that big to combat.”

“Yeah, I try not to think about that part.” He rubbed his eyes again. “Though with my luck, whatever it is will hit right about now.”

“Look on the bright side.”

“There's a bright side?”

“No power. That's put the Council back as a major player again. Their enemies have lost the edge being able to use technology gave them.”

Harry looked around the cabin, pondered a moment, then waved his hand. “Flickum Bickus.” The candles and lamps that were still unlit before all caught blaze. “And I still have magic.” That was a relief. “So, moving on, the Outer Gates are still holding, there are a full three Knight of the Cross, so the only outstanding piece of business is to find the other warlock and take my daughter back.”

That last came out with a growl. “So, Molly, you've always been a natural at neuromancy. Can you trace the spell thru me back to Maggie?”

She worried her lip. “I was actually trying to work on that while you were sleeping. I think it's doable, but I'm still working on untying the knots so I can.”

He bit back a growl. “These guys are too damn good. Keep working on it, Kid. I wanna get Maggie back before they decide she's disposable.”

“I will. And I'm not the only one looking. Now that the spell is unraveling, I've got some of the Fae I know we can trust looking for her as well.”

“ _Winter_ Fae? Who?”

“Lea is looking, and she is sincere about getting Maggie back sound and whole. And Cat Shide is looking.”

He nearly choked. “What?”

“He actually volunteered. He feels that he owes you for talking to him when he was taken over by the Adversary. It helped him fight back enough to get back into Mab's hands so she could cure him. And you know how the Fae hate to be indebted to anyone.”

That the granddaddy of all Malks was looking for his kid was, well, he wasn't certain what to think about it. He was a disturbing creature, but on the other hand, if he found Maggie he would take anyone threatening her and rip their spines out.”

“Okay, so we've got high level fae from the Winter Court looking for her out there while you are working on the mind mojo to track her down from here. Good. That's... almost like a plan.”

Molly gave him a gentle hug. “We'll get her back, Harry. And we'll find the people behind all of this and we'll make them wish they'd never been born.” She stepped back. “You wanna see Karrin, now?”

“Yeah, I do.” He slipped the duster on, swallowing hard. He needed to go say 'good-bye' to his wife.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a bit of shameless self-promotion here at the end. I've started working on an original piece that I'd like some feedback on. You can find it over at https://www.fictionpress.com/s/3233177/1/Shield-of-Heaven
> 
> It's just the first little bit right now. Feel free to chime in.


	4. Chapter 4

Charlie was supposed to be hunting, but she'd found the old RV a couple days ago and her curiosity got the better of her. It was turned over onto its side. Dad and Maggie had told her of the rioting and looting right after the lights went out, but she didn't think this was a case of scared, violent people flipping it over. She suspected it may be a case of being caught up in a storm at one point in time.

She pulled herself up using the steel undercarriage and got inside thru the now missing door. The place was dusty and showed more than a few signs of damage from exposure and neglect. Charlie took care walking, broken glass and who knew what else littered what had been the side wall and now served as an uneven and cluttered floor. She poked around inside the cabinets, finding nothing but faded receipts for fast foods no longer made and a half empty pack of dinner napkins. She did find an old road atlas tucked in a pocket on the back of the front passenger seat, most of the old roads had been reclaimed by nature by now but still interesting. The real treasure, for her, was a post card she found stuck to a defunct mini-fridge by a yellowed magnet. 

She looked at the glossy picture of Wrigley Field. 'Chicago' was emblazoned on the bottom in red ink. A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth as she ran her fingers over the picture, soon replaced by a puzzled frown. 

Chicago.

She felt like she knew that city, and not just by name.

An image tugged at her mind. Something like a memory. Sitting on hard plastic seats in a shiny jacket with the Cubs logo embroidered on one side. A drink almost too large for her hands to hold in the cup holder beside her. Wearing a baseball glove on her had. A man, too tall to be believed with wild, dark hair and a long, angular face seated beside her and yelling at the umpire who couldn't possibly hear him from all the way up here. Her laughing at him as he gesticulated wildly with his hands.

_Dad._

She blinked, shaking herself like she was freeing herself from a particularly deep sleep. She could still taste the salt of the hot dog on her tongue. 

What the hell was that?

She shivered and rubbed at her arms over the leather sleeves of her jacket. A sense of foreboding stole over her. She wanted to run. Run far away from Sylvania Estates. She suddenly felt that it wasn't safe for her to be here, to be with these people. 

Something was horribly wrong.

She tucked the postcard into an inside pocket in her jacket and grabbed the atlas. She clambered back out of the RV and started walking further into the woods. She should at least try to get something before heading back home.

The vision of being inside Wrigley Field tugged at her. It had felt more like a memory, but that couldn't be. Could it? The man hadn't been Ben Matheson. He'd been taller. Leaner. She closed her eyes, pausing by a tree, and concentrated on the thoughts. He'd been big. So very big. And she thought she felt...safe with him, even if he was only make believe. He'd been wearing a long leather coat, inky black and with symbols etched into it with black ink so that you didn't notice them unless you knew what you were looking for. 

A pang of longing and loneliness shot through her. She shook herself again. That was silly. And she was out in the woods, so she needed to keep her wits up. People could be dangerous, more so than animals, and one never knew when they might run across another soul. 

She put her mind to the business of hunting and brought down a couple of nice, plump hares. Dad liked rabbit, and he'd been acting weird that morning. Stressed out, almost, and seemed reluctant to look her way for too long. She wasn't sure what was up with him, but something definitely was. Maybe a meal of sweet, fried rabbit would help cheer him up some.

But the closer she got to the village, the greater the knot of unease in her stomach grew. Everything in her was telling her to turn around and run the other way. Don't go back. Danger. Her instincts told her she needed to get away and get to safety. To get behind a thick wall somewhere. Or into a circle.

A circle?

_Perfect. Now, you have to touch the circle and Will it closed. Think on how you want it to be there and it will be. Magic is made by life, but it is a person's Will that give it shape._

Charlie blinked. She was crouched down, her arm outstretched. She looked down and blinked again. She'd sketched a circle around herself in the dirt floor of the woods. Why had she done that? She wasn't sure, but it had felt...right. Normal.

_Think on how you want it to be there and it will be._

She licked her lips and reached out again to touch the circle. She imagined a circular wall going up around her, imagined pushing her Will into the circle. 

Something like static ran over her skin. She felt the change in the dirt circle as she empowered it. Perhaps it should have been suffocating, but it wasn't. She felt like wanting to cry from relief. _Magic is made by life._ The voice was a deep baritone, and immediately called back up the tall, dark man in the leather coat. Now she saw him standing by her, a walking staff almost as long as he was tall in his hands. 

Life made it. That's what felt so good. The woods were teaming with life. The trees. The flowers. The animals. There was so much life here. So much magic. Now that she knew what to 'look' for, she could feel it rubbing against her like a warm, soft kitten. Purring and comforting, but with sharp claws that could come out at any moment.

How did she know this?

Was she sure she knew this?

She couldn't tell Dad. Telling Dad would be the wrong thing to do.

Charlie frowned. Something like a memory told her to how to break the circle by running her fingers over the edge of the line and breaking it. The energy that had been building up inside of it dissipated. It wasn't so strong now, no longer imprisoned by her Will, but she was still aware of it. It couldn't be all in her head. It felt too real. Too much like part of herself.

A sharp spike of pain shot behind her eyes. She winced and rubbed them, pushing down a queasy, nauseated feeling that started to roil in her stomach. Maybe she was coming down with something. There had been that stomach bug going around. Maggie had been prescribing a lot of strong peppermint tea to people in the village to help settle down their stomachs. She'd make some when she got to the house. 

She picked the rabbits back up and started walking again. She needed to get the hares skinned and cleaned if she was to fry them up in time for dinner.


	5. Chapter 5

Tom was still having trouble wrapping his mind around it. Surely this was some kind of elaborate joke. He doubted both Monroe and Captain Baker had both gone mad and fallen prey to the same delusion.

Baker sighed. “Tom, believe me, we know how crazy this all sounds. You had to be there.”

“And you left General Monroe on the island. In the middle of Lake Michigan.” He blinked. “Just...five days ago.”

Monroe sighed and poured himself another drink. “There is no Miles Matheson. There never was.” He downed the drink. It still hurt. Not just his head, though that was pounding still and not from all the liquor he drank last night, but inside. He felt like he'd been scraped raw. Fifteen years believing that Miles Matheson had been his friend and brother all his life, and now he had to face that he was alone. Truly alone. He had no Miles. No brother. It had all been a lie. Just smoke and mirrors.

He wanted to howl. To scream. 

He wanted to find away back to that damn ice palace Rachel had been drug off to and join in on the interrogation until the bitch told him why she'd fucked with his mind like that. Monsters or no monsters. Besides, his gut told him the things he and Baker had seen there before Mab had them brought to Philly weren't half as dangerous as the beautiful woman who ruled them. Mab was downright terrifying.

If it weren't for the fact that he'd seen 'Alfred' and Mab and the trolls, ogres, malks and the other previously fairytale creatures with his own two eyes, he wouldn't believe what he was saying either.

If it weren't for the fact that Jeremy had seen it all, too, he'd be questioning his own sanity.

He poured another whiskey, topping off Baker's glass as well. “Miles Matheson doesn't exist. His real name is Harry Dresden, and he's been a victim of someone's not-so-funny joke. They brainwashed him into believing he was someone else and forgetting who he really was. We left him with someone who knows him and has his best interests at heart.” And he missed the snarky son-of-a-bitch. Miles or Harry, he'd gotten so used to the man being around, to knowing he had his back, that he felt exposed and at risk without him. Now that his memories were coming back, he was recalling the night of the Blackout. The fear. The disorder. Of creatures with mouths where mouths weren't supposed to be. Of things preying on humans already cast into panic by the loss of lights and the onset of chaos. 

Of a tall man in a black leather coat doing the impossible as if it were just part of the job.

“Sir, this all seems very strange.”

That was an understatement. “Try living it, Tom.” He had to stop trying to remember for a bit. He needed to give his head time to recover and stop pounding.

“So...when the General returns, we are to refer to him as General Dresden?”

“Just 'Harry' will do fine.” Miles', no, Harry's voice was deep and booming as the man walked through the door. 'Molly' was following along in his wake. Gone was the Militia uniform, replaced by jeans, jump boots, a t-shirt and a long leather duster. He was carrying a long walking staff in one hand and still moved with the confident gait he'd used as 'Miles'. “I'm not one for formalities.”

Molly snickered.

“What?”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, nothing. Just glad you're back. There are some rather prissy members of the Court that need to have some sticks removed from their asses. I'm really looking forward to the next time you have to present yourself in a more formal setting.”

Harry grimaced and scowled before looking at him. Bass met his gaze and saw the concern there. Just like Miles would show whenever he did something stupid that landed him in the infirmary. “You okay?”

“As long as I don't try to hard to remember things. Makes my head feel like my skull is about to split open.”

The woman frowned. “Is it getting better or worse?”

He considered it for a moment. “Better. It's not happening as often now.”

She relaxed. “Then you should be fine. There's always residual problems from neuromancy. That's why it's illegal. These 'Mathesons' have already condemned themselves, even if the Winter Court wasn't involved. Tampering with someone's mind like this is an automatic death sentence.”

He blinked. “It is?”

Harry picked it up. “Yeah. It's 'black magic'. Folks from our side of the fence only have seven laws, but breaking any one of them is grounds for an amputation at the neck.” He pulled a chair over for Molly, who sat down with an elegant grace. “Wizards are an 'old school' lot. Mind magic can leave damage. Scars of a sort.”

“It can make a person go crazy,” Molly added.

“Hell, Grasshopper. We did go crazy. Do you have any idea the two of us have been doing?” Dresden jerked his head in his direction for illustration. “I'd say that Rachel turned me into an asshole, but I'm pretty sure she just managed to disable the breaks I normally used to keep those tendencies in check.”

“Smothered your more chivalrous nature, you mean?”

“Yeah, that.” The man winced. “Damn, I could have used Karrin. She'd have snapped me out of it, or cracked my head open.”

Curiosity got the better of him. “Who's Karrin?” Pain crossed the other man's eyes.

“My wife. Molls says she did in the Chicago Riots a few years back.”

Ouch. “Sorry.” To wake up from a fifteen year lie to learn your wife was dead and you weren't able to be there for her, that would be a nightmare. He didn't know how the guy was holding up. He'd been devastated by Shelly's death. It had been what had pushed him over the edge.

Would he have been that close to it if Rachel hadn't fucked with his head in the first place?

“That lady... Mab? She took Rachel with her. Bitch was spitting fire the whole way.”

Dresden blinked. “Literally?”

Well, considering what Bass had seen these past five days, that question wasn't all that surprising. “No, not really. She was bound and determined to be defiant and angry, though.”

“Yeah, well, that won't last long. Mab is very determined when it comes to interrogation and torture. You don't want to know what she did to my predecessor. You certainly don't want to know how long she stretched it out.”

He didn't doubt that. Rachel had been terrified when she had seen who had come for her. She'd covered it up quickly, but he'd seen it. “So why do you look antsy?” He did. Mi...Harry was fidgeting.

He growled. “Because the other one still has my daughter.” 

Bass blinked. “Your...daughter? You have a kid?”

“I have three, as it turns out. Karrin found out she was pregnant after we got jumped and they made me vanish. A son. He and his other sister are with a friend.” A thought seem to cross his mind and he looked over at Molly. She gave him a gentle smile in answer.

“I've already sent word to Rashid to let him know that you've been found and are alive and well. I expect he'll show up as soon as he can shake himself loose.”

He could see them man's shoulder's relax. “Good. They'll be safe with him, but we still need to find Maggie.”

“Any way I can help, let me know.” These assholes had grabbed them, rewrote their brains and they took off with his daughter. Who does shit like that? If having someone poke around inside his head didn't drive Dresden crazy, waking up to find out that his wife was dead, that he'd lost out on the birth and life of one child and that another had been kidnapped certainly would.

A brief expression of relief passed over Dresden's face. “Thank you, but you don't owe me anything, Ba...Monroe.”

“Please, no matter what that bitch did to my head, you've been by my side for fifteen years. Have been willing to take a bullet for me. That was real enough.” He shrugged. “Besides, I'm starting to remember the night of the Blackout. I'd have died with the rest of my squad if you hadn't been there.”

“Yeah, but I still lost the rest of you.”

“Our CO should have listened to you when you told him that we shouldn't be there. If you hadn't been so focused on protecting us you might have had enough juice to stop that bitch and avoided all of this.” He offered Harry a drink. The man accepted. “I owe you. I owe you a whole helluva lot.”

They clinked glasses and downed the whiskey. Dresden frowned at the glass. “I appreciate the offer, but you've got work to do. Tell me you're starting to see how badly we've been screwing up.”

It was his turn to grimace. “Yeah, tell me about it. I've been trying to figure out where to start.”

Neville had been quietly observing. Now he cleared his throat. “Start what, Sir?”

Dresden rolled his eyes. Looks like some parts of his personality were owned by the original identity. Good to know. He still could only barely tolerate Neville. The man still had a brain. 

Bass sternly told himself not to smile. “Come on, Tom. You can't be so jaded that you think some of the shit we've been pulling is okay. The conscription camps. The corruption we've been ignoring in the outer garrisons. Our soldiers are barely more than bullies, almost as bad as the bandits and thugs they're supposed to be protecting the citizens from.” He shook his head. “We've got some housekeeping to do.”

Tom looked surprised. The other man banished the reaction as soon as it touched his features and gave a nod of agreement. “I understand, Sir. I would be happy to assist in any way possible.”

“That's good, because I need that ability you have to ferret out the truth. I'm putting you in charge of auditing the garrisons and their officers. Time everyone remembered the Code of Conduct and started living it. No exceptions.” He stoppered the whiskey. He should keep his head clear for the rest of the day. “I'm promoting you to major to give you the needed authority. Draw up your plan of action and figure out who and what you're going to need. I want to hear your ideas in three days.”

Neville gave a crisp nod. “Yes, Sir. Thank you for your confidence.” He clicked his heels and left. 

Harry arched a brow at him. “You're promoting Tom Neville?”

Jeremy shook his head. “You hate that guy.”

“You want the rank?”

“Fuck no!”

“Then shut up.” Bass rolled his shoulders. Sleep hadn't been coming easily for him since he had started remembering. Too many nightmares. “Tom's a dick, but he's the best investigator we have. If anyone can figure out who can be trusted and who needs to be replaced or retired, it's him. He'll excel at this assignment. It's practically what he was born to do.”

He leaned forward, placing his hands on his desk. “So, Harry, what do we do about tracking down Ben Matheson and getting your daughter back?”

Dresden sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Molly says to pin me down like that, they had to go through a genetic connection, either by grabbing skin, hair or blood from me or from a close relative. Wizards knew about such things before the rest of humanity figured out genetics and DNA, so we're fanatical about not leaving things around our enemies can get hold of. So they went with a relative.”

“How'd they get anything from her?”

“Probably while she was at school. Or while she was out with Karrin or with family friends. I didn't want her to live afraid. She...this isn't the first time she's been kidnapped. The first time...the first time it was hell. They were monsters. She was forced to watch a lot of people die, many of them only a few feet from her.”

Bass felt sick to his stomach. “How old?”

“Five.”

He bit off an oath. “So, they got hold of something of hers and used it to perform the mind whammy. Now what?”

Molly scowled. “I'm still working on it. I can't go too quickly or I might fry Harry, and we'll need him when we find this guy. I can do the mind magic, and I'm no slouch if I have to fight, but Harry's more 'brute strength' than I am. Besides, if the spell is breaking for Harry, it's starting to unmake for Maggie, too. It will be better if Harry can be there for her.”

Bass nodded. “All right, then. I'll have a room made ready for you. It will be an honor to have you as our guest. Harry, you need anything, anything at all, you don't even have to ask. After all we've been through, what we're going through now...as far as I'm concerned, you're still my brother.”

He extended a hand, nervousness rearing up inside of him. What if he rejected him?

Dresden stood up and took his hand. “I know what you mean, Bass.” He shook hands with him, his grip firm. “We did manage to figure out why they split up and Rachel came here.”

“Why?” They release the handshake.

“Soul gaze. You and me, we locked eyes too long and took a measure of one another. It started cracking the spell. She came here to keep me under wraps.” He ran a hand through the disorder that was his hair. “You may or may not be remembering that, yet. A lot of people get kind of wigged out when they see the real me.”

Memories tugged at him. “Darkness...and monsters. They were standing on one side. People stood on the other. You were in the middle, fighting the darkness to keep the people safe. Things that were larger than you, stronger than you, and you refuse to back down.”

He blinked. “That's what it is?” He frowned. “Why the hell would that freak people out?”

“They are some really scary monsters. And you look pretty damn scary fighting them.” He paused. “Me?”

Harry gave him a sad smile. “You're not a bad or evil man, Bass. You're just hurting inside. You give yourself completely. Wholeheartedly. And when you lose someone you care for, it rips you up inside and makes you bleed more. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but you could try teaching yourself some moderation.”

Molly choked. “Harry, no offense, but look who's talking. Someone touches someone you care about, and you burn down buildings. Or exterminate an entire race.”

“Hey, the Red Court had it coming. They were going to murder Maggie, and every single one of them was a killer.”

“That...sounds like an interesting story.”

“Maybe I'll tell you one day. Right now, if you don't mind, I'm hungry.”

“You're always hungry.”

Harry shrugged. “Guys my size usually are.”


	6. Chapter 6

Charlie itched to get back out of the house. She'd been heading out on her own the past few days. Poking. Prodding. Chipping away at her own head and mind, digging up glimpses of another life that she still didn't know was reality or just fantasy.

The circle she'd made in the woods had just been the start of it. She felt like she was waking up from an odd dream and realizing what life was really like for the first time. She felt alive. Energized.

Then she had to go back to the house and she had to do her best not to fidget while waiting for the next day to dawn.

Dad seemed to noticed. At least, he noticed something was off. She could feel him watching her out of the side of his vision. A couple of mornings he seemed to hesitate near her as he came to the table for breakfast, as though thinking of something and then changing his mind. It was odd.

“Big plans for today, Charlie?”

She didn't mean to jump when he spoke. She just hadn't been expecting it. “No, not really. Just hunting.”

“You've been out every day this week.”

“Yeah, but they've all been little things. We need to get something bigger. Something we can preserve for the winter. Maybe make some sausage.”

Danny perked up. “Oh, venison sausage! Like you made last year?”

“Yeah, something like that. Caleb said that if I get enough kills to make extra, his wife will knit us some new sweaters in trade. My best one is a bit tight.” It was very tight, actually. She couldn't possibly wear it out and about. It was snug enough across her breasts to be indecent.

Something like guilt seemed to cross over her father's face, but it was gone before she could be sure about it. “Well, it's a bit chilly out there this morning. How about something hot before you go?” Ben got up and pulled the enamel percolator off the stove top. Coffee was a thing of the past, but it did a good job of heating up water for tea. 

“Yeah, sure. That'd be great.” She'd been afraid that he might try to keep her at home.

“Maybe I could go with you today.”

Ben shook his head. “I need you here today, Danny. Charlie can come get you if she needs help with anything.” He was adding herbs to one of the enameled mugs. Once done, he added the hot water to it and et it aside to steep. “Better eat up, Charlie. If the hunt goes long you might not get in for lunch.”

“Good point.” She stole a slice of bacon off Danny's plate, smirking at him when he yelped in protest. “Gotta move faster than that, Li'l Bro.” He retaliated by stealing her extra biscuit. “Hey!”

“Snooze you lose, Sis.” He grinned at her as he took a bite out of it. 

Ben set the mug of tea down next to her plate. “This should help knock off the chill.”

She reached for the cup, but something made her pause. Her stomach tightened. A chill ran down her spine. Everything in her was screaming 'Don't! Bad!'. That deep, baritone voice whispered from the back of her mind. _You've got good instincts, Mags. Listen to them. They'll help you keep out of trouble._

She summoned a smile. “Thanks, Dad.” Her hand continued past the mug to the little pot of honey. She grabbed the dipper and added some to the tea. She stirred it absently with one hand as she scooped up some more eggs with a fork in her other. “So what are you and The Brat doing today?”

“We're going to be helping with adding a new room onto the Courtlands' house. Aimee is getting old enough that she really needs a room of her own.” The girl had just turned thirteen and was about to the point of strangling her little sister. Her parents were probably attempting to stop the bloodshed. 

“Oh yeah, I'm definitely going hunting today, then.”

Danny scowled. “Rub it in, why don't you.”

She reached over and ruffled his hair before she shoveled the rest of the eggs into her mouth. She washed them down with water and grabbed one last biscuit before she hurried over to grab her crossbow and bolts from the wall. “I'll see you tonight.” She dashed out the door without waiting for a response.

The tea was left to cool in the mug on the table.

~***~

She was far out into the woods before she felt she could slow down enough to get her thoughts together.

Her dad wouldn't hurt her! 

Only, everything inside of her was telling her that he had just tried. 

She paced back and forth a short distance before a spring maybe a mile east of the village. She dropped her pack and crossbow to the ground and shook her hands out as she did. She felt as though she didn't know what to do with them. She was torn between burying her face in her hands and punching something. Anything.

In the end, she settled for falling to her knees, her hands laying limply between her knees and silent tears falling form her eyes.

Her father had tried to kill her. She knew it as well as she knew how much force she needed to exert to pull back the cable of her crossbow. 

“I'm going crazy.” That's the only thing she could think of. The only reason. Nothing else made sense. She was losing her grip on reality. Believing she could do magic. Thinking her father was trying to poison her.

Thinking her father wasn't really her father. That her real father was a man well over six feet tall and who wore a long leather coat and fought monsters with ice and fire. 

A voice, her voice, young and from a million miles away whispered in her ear. _Molly says you fight monsters. Like draculas and stuff._

She remembered being held in long arms as she rested against his chest, the smell of leather in her nose. A massive dog lying on the porch floor beside the chair, his massive head on her father's foot. Dad talking to Mr. Carpenter, talking about Mama Karrin recovering after surgery. Karrin was still 'Ms. Murphy' then, she hadn't married Dad, yet.

Pain shot through her head and Charlie crumpled over to one side, curling up into a ball while her hands gripped her skull as though to squeeze away the pain. She opened her mouth to scream and could only manage a whimper. It felt like one thousand hot knives slashing away at her brain from the inside.

_She muffled her screams in her pillow after the nightmares woke her. It upset Mrs. Carpenter when she woke up screaming and she didn't want her to be mad. It made her foster parents happier to think she'd forgotten the place with the monsters and all the blood._

_Running into the house next door to the Carpenters home. Dad had bought it and he and Mr. Carpenter had been fixing things so Dad didn't accidentally break something. She was going to live with him now._

_Wearing a pretty white dress with a wreath of flowers in her hair. Mouse sitting beside her as she held the little satin pillow with the wedding rings on it, watching as her dad and Karrin exchanged vows._

_Running outside with everyone else as the planes started falling from the sky. Everyone was afraid. Mrs. Carpenter calling to her from their yard, motioning for her and Mouse to come over and get into the safe room with them. Then the man coming into the yard, a ball of some kind of strange light shooting from his hand and slamming into Mouse, hurling the large dog into the wall of the house._

She gasped. The image of the man who had attacked them the night of the Blackout was clear and sharp in her mind.

The man was Ben Matheson.

Charlie rolled over onto her back, drawing in deep, shaky breaths. Everything clicked into place.

She swallowed and spoke to the canopy of tree limbs above her. “My name.” She swallowed again and licked her lips. Her voice sounded unnaturally loud. “My name is Margaret Angelica Rodriguez Dresden.” The truth of those words rang in her ears with the clarity of a bell. She was Maggie Dresden, daughter of Harry Dresden. Her father was a wizard. She knew how to make a magic circle because he'd just started teaching her a few months before the Blackout. He'd had to. She'd accidentally set fire to the bookshelf in history class when she got angry at some boy who'd been teasing her. No one had gotten hurt, but leaving her untrained would have been dangerous.

She rolled over onto her knees. She felt weak. Her head was still pounding, but not as badly as before. Weary, she crawled over to the spring and looked into the water.

She looked...wrong. Blue eyes stared back at her when she knew they should be brown. Her hair was a crown of gold and she knew it should be dark. Her skin was pale, but her memory called up Karrin telling her that her natural tan coloring was from her mother, a reminder of a Latin heritage.

_You have to be careful around the Fae, Mags. The Sidhe know pretty, and they can make themselves look like anything they want. The power of glamour. It's a tricky one._

Glamour. If faeries could use magic to look different, could human wizards do the same? If her name and her life had been a lie, why not her face?

She closed her eyes and concentrated, pulling magic to her. _You can't do anything with magic you don't believe you can do._ Well, if Ben, or whoever he was, could make her face look different, then she could make herself look like she was supposed to. She just had to get rid of whatever he had done to her. She imagined washing it away, like cleaning off mud or dirt, from head to toe.

She opened her eyes again and an aborted laugh of triumph and relief escaped her. In the reflection of the water, a young woman with thick, dark hair, dark eyes and lightly tanned skin looked back at her. The basic facial structure was the same, but with the altered coloring, most people wouldn't recognize her.

That was good. She knew that was good. Her gut told her that she needed to grab her pack and crossbow and run for it. She needed to leave now. But where?

Chicago. Her family had been in Chicago. Not just her dad and Karrin, but close friends. The Carpenters had been there. And there was Father Forthill at St. Mary's. If any of them were left, she'd have someone who could help. And Dad...if he was alive, they'd know. 

Maggie grabbed her things and hurried off. She still had the atlas she'd pulled from the RV in her pack. It was woefully outdated, but the memories of the old highways were still there. If she stuck to the wrecks of the old main roads she'd be able to navigate her way to Chicago.

~***~

Ben was trying to concentrate enough not to get injured. The girl had taken off without drinking the poison that morning. He'd had a hard time playing it off when he'd grabbed the mug before Danny could drink it instead. He'd have to try again tonight, or tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning would be better. Danny would be traumatized if he woke up to find his 'sister' dead in her bed.

He got a sudden second wind. One moment he was in his usual state of semi-tiredness, putting on a neutral mask as he helped with lifting boards into place and holding them as other men hammered the nails in. The next moment he felt stronger. It took a moment before he realized what was wrong with that.

The steady drain on his magic he'd been living with for the past fifteen years was gone. The spells he'd been maintaining on Maggie had fallen.

He dropped the board suddenly, just barely missing Abe's foot.

“Ben!”

“Sorry. Sorry, but I just remembered something.” He stepped back and turned towards his house. 

“Dad?”

“Danny, stay here and help. I...I need to take care of something.” He picked up his pace. He needed to get some hairs from Maggie's brush for a quick location spell. 

He needed to find Maggie Dresden.


	7. Chapter 7

Harry woke up in his ridiculously soft bed. Now that he was himself again, he had to admit that it was nice not to feel like the odd man out any longer. When the lights were on, wizards had been cut off from many of the aspects of modern society. Electronics, anything made after World War II, was likely to crash and burn around a wizard. For the longest time his car had been an old VW Beetle. His phone had been a rotary phone and only worked half of the time. He'd had no hot water, a charcoal cook stove and his light came from candles. On the upside, he'd saved a bundle by not having an electric bill, gas bill or a pricey mobile phone.

After he'd learned he was a father, became the Winter Knight and had been backed into a corner so that he was forced to help burgle Hades' Vault, he'd walked away with a lock box full of small, high quality diamonds that he'd been able to sell a little at a time. He was, for the first time in his life, well off. He'd been able to buy a proper house for him and Maggie, had paid an insane amount of money to replace the electric range with a wood cook stove and the gas hot water heater and central heater with a wood furnace system and had a sweet vintage Cadillac hearse for a ride. Okay, maybe it was a little Munster, but it was a nice car. The flame paint job really made it pop.

Now, with the lights out, his way of living was the norm. Everyone was on a level playing field, which was fine by him. Too bad he'd missed out on that over the past fifteen years.

His mind played over the false memories in his head, sifting through them carefully. Why would the warlocks make him remember 'Ben' calling him to warn him of the Blackout? Maybe because he was already aware that something bad was going down? Still, it pretty much painted a target on their backs. Made him determined to find them. 

Maybe he could ask Man for some quality time with 'Rachel'. See if he could get anything out of her in regards to where her partner-in-crime might be hiding. The idea made his stomach churn, though. Odd, as 'Miles Matheson' he'd been okay with interrogations and torture, but now that he was Harry again, the idea made him sick. Was it because Rachel was a woman or because she was human? He'd had no problem letting the vampires of the Red Court suffer if it got him what he needed. Of course, they were all monsters wearing a human-shaped flesh mask and each and every one of them was a killer.

_You're a killer, too, Harry. How many people have died because of choices you made?_

He growled and threw the covers aside. Looking back he wasn't sure he would have handled the Red Court any differently. They'd primed that damn spell with human sacrifices. If they'd slit Maggie's throat that day, he would have died. Susan would have died. His grandfather would have died. He wasn't sure what would have happened to Thomas, if he'd have died with the human half of himself or if all that would have been left would have been the demon half, a colder, unfettered monster that would have given his sister Lara a run for her money. 

He still lost Susan. She'd killed and the change from just a person infected with the beginning of the Red Court's flavor of vampirism had started moving to full-blown membership into their ranks. She'd been the youngest Red in the world, and all of them had come from the same creature. The bloodline curse had been ready to go, and she'd let him place her on that altar and murder her. Let him use her to wipe out the whole damn race. At the time he'd seen nothing wrong with it. It hadn't been until much later he learned of the power vacuum that had resulted and the lives lost as others raced to fill it. Pragmatically, the loss of mortal life was far less than what the Reds would have killed had they continued to live, but each person who had died or had been kidnapped and changed into something else weighed heavily on his conscience.

Just as each person he killed as Miles Matheson was now weighing on him. He knew it wasn't his fault, but it still hurt. His mind had been warped, his moral compass pushed askew by the tampering. Things could have gone a lot worse. If they hadn't suppressed his knowledge and belief in magic, he could have gone total warlock himself. Using black magic like that, it messed with your mind. He was amazed that Rachel had held it together as well as she had. 

A cold feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. What if Ben hadn't been able to hold it together as well? He had Maggie. 

There was a soft knock on the door. “Yes?”

A voice came through. “General, Sir? Shall I have the kitchen staff bring up your bath, Sir?”

Right. Miles Matheson had enjoyed the good life in this post-Blackout world. Hot bath every morning he was in Philly. The finest whiskey and spirits available. Hot and cold running women anytime he wanted. He could use a bath, though. “Yeah. Is Miss Carpenter awake, yet?”

There was silence for a moment. “No, Sir. Do you want me to wake her for you?”

“No. I'll talk to her at breakfast.”

“Very well, Sir.”

He stretched and scratched his head as he yawned. At this hour the rest of the house would still be asleep save for the kitchen staff and the guards. He might as well get a bath and shave in before he tried to get something for breakfast.

An hour later he was freshly washed, in a clean pair of jeans and shirt and was walking into the informal dining room Bass used most days. The leader of the Republic was going over reports as he paid only semi-attention to his breakfast.

“Morning.” Harry landed in a chair across from him. “Even with your memories back, you're still a workaholic.”

“This mess won't fix itself.” Bass glared at the reports and shook his head. “Damn. What were we thinking?”

“Don't beat yourself up over it, Bass. This is why screwing with people's heads using magic is one of the seven laws.”

“I'm curious, what are the laws?”

Miles added bacon to his plate. “Do not kill another person with magic, do not use magic to change the shape of another person, do not use magic for forcible violation of another person's mind, do not use magic to dominate another person's mind, do not practice necromancy, do not travel through time and do not reach beyond the Outer Gates.”

Bass blinked. “You can travel through time?”

“Me personally, no. I know it's possible, and I know there are people who've done it, but it's really tricky and there are all kinds of things that can go wrong in doing so. Paradoxes and such.”

“Ah. And breaking any one of those laws is an automatic death sentence.”

“Exactly. The laws only apply to humans, though.”

“I'm still having trouble getting used to that. There being people other than humans, I mean.” Bass shook his head. “That place where we took Rachel, it was...unreal.”

“Welcome to my world. Thought I have to say, you and Jeremy are handling it much better than most people. Usually when a vanilla mortal learns that the world is bigger than he thought it was, he rationalizes it all away.”

“Kind of hard to rationalize away a giant castle in the middle of a magical winter fairy land. Especially when Jeremy saw it, too.” He shuddered. “That place was just scary.”

“No shit. And that's just the castle. The creatures that live in the NeverNever aren't much better. Even Summer isn't all sweetness and light. The Fae are consummate lawyers about everything. Never enter into a deal with them. Don't offer them anything or accept anything from them. They can't tell you a blatant, outright lie, but they can hedge, dodge and evade better than a professional politician and use those skills to misdirect and get the better of you.”

“So why do you work with them?”

“I made a deal with Mab.”

Bass blinked. “Uhm...didn't you just say not to do that?”

Harry sighed. “I did. It was an extenuating circumstance.”

“How so?”

Harry hesitated, not sure how much to tell. On one hand, he knew that Bass, the real Bass, was a decent guy at heart. He'd been manipulated and mind-raped, pushing him to do some horrible things, just as he himself had been. Still, this was the President of the Monroe Republic and the most feared man on the continent. Okay, he was the second most feared man on the continent. Harry wasn't going to delude himself that 'Miles Matheson' wasn't a bigger bastard than Monroe was.

He sighed. “Monsters had my daughter. I was injured, badly, and I needed healing and enough power to go up against things bigger and badder than I was. Taking Mab's offer to be the Winter Knight was the least evil of three bad choices.”

“What were the other two?”

“Agreeing to possession by a fallen angel or casting a wicked ass spell that would have made me the equivalent of a newborn god, but at the cost of thousands, if not tens of thousands, of innocent lives. The Winter Queen may be cruel and gave lessons to every evil queen and witch in fairy tales, but she does not kill indiscriminately. And, to be honest, I didn't intend to keep my side of the bargain. I tried to weasel out of it so she wouldn't be able to turn me into a monster.”

“What did you do?”

“I called in a favor a professional hit man owed me. Arranged for him to kill me with a sniper rifle. She didn't fall for it, though. Snatched me up before I got good and dead and spirited me off to Deamonreach. I was in a coma for a while, then months of physical therapy and recovery until I was able to take up my new position.” He frowned. “That reminds me, I should call Kincade out on that. Fucker didn't hold up his side of things. He still owes me.”

“I wouldn't do that,” came Molly's voice in the doorway. Both men turned around to see her come into the room. “He might decide that the best way to make up for it is to shoot you again. I'm not going to put up with Mab if that happens.”

Bass grinned and shook his head as he took in the elegant pantsuit in a cool blue and the perfectly done hair. “Where do you find the top-of-the-line wardrobe. You look like you could have just walked out of a pre-Blackout board room.”

“Can't say. Fairy mystique and so on.” She grinned back at him and claimed a chair for herself. She started piling eggs, bacon and biscuits onto her plate.

“Uhm...is it okay for you to eat with us?”

“Oh yeah, she's fine. Molls is a special case.”

“How so?”

The young woman smiled. “I was Harry's apprentice before I became the Winter Lady.”

Monroe frowned. “How does that work?”

She shrugged. “Easy. I was born human.”

He blinked at that. “You can just stop being human?”

“She was kind of in the wrong place and the right time. It's complicated.”

“I imagine.”

“Harry, stop hogging the apple jelly.” She held out her hand and Harry handed over the jar with an over dramatic sigh. “Oh, stop pouting. It won't kill you to live without Burger King or cheap pizza. In fact, you might live longer.”

“Yeah, but who'd want to?”

Bass had to laugh at the put upon expression on Harry's face and the roll of the eyes from Molly. “So, I'm going to be busy reviewing and updating the Code of Conduct and the Militia's justice code.”

“That's a mess. You gonna tackle it alone?”

He shook his head. “I've got Jeremy rounding up some a few guys who used to work as criminal and civil attorneys before the lights went out. I'm not looking forward to it, so I'm making him work with us so he can translate legalese into English. I already know which parts are weak or need tweaking here and there. The plan is to have a good, solid starting point to send with Neville when he starts his audit.”

“I still can't believe you promoted that dick.” Harry made a sandwich of toast, strawberry jelly, a fried egg and bacon. “At least it will keep him out of the city and out of our hair for a while. I'd rather not have him entangled in trying to find Ben or Maggie.”

“True.” Bass paused. “Do you think there really is a 'Danny'? Or was he just part of the lie?”

That made Harry pause. “I'm not sure. Really no reason to make up an extra kid, though.”

“Another kidnap victim, maybe?”

“Dunno. We'll have to explore that mystery when we find them.” Harry looked over to Molly. “Good and rested, Grasshopper?”

“Yep. Just hungry, now. We can get back to work after I've finished breakfast.”

“Good.”

“Y'know, Harry, technically you did help me build the Militia. If you need a break from poking around inside your own brain, you're more than welcome to help me and Baker with the revamp.”

Dresden gave Monroe a lopsided smirk. “Oh, no. I'm not shutting myself up in an office all day with a pack of lawyers. That'd be an invitation to burn down Independence Hall around their ears.”

Bass pondered that a moment. “Let's wait on that until we see how annoying they are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Remember; Comments are my drug of choice._


	8. Chapter 8

Running away without time to fully prepare might not have been the best set of circumstances, but it was what she had to work with. At least she had her jacket and a water bottle. She'd managed to bring down small game, mostly rabbit or squirrel. She would cook them over a campfire at night, eating only half and keeping the other half for the following day or two. She only managed a few hours of sleep each night, the slightest sound making her flinch awake.

She'd been racking her brain, trying to remember the few lessons her father had been able to give her before That Night, as she'd taken to calling the evening the lights went out and she'd been kidnapped. There hadn't been time for much. She remembered the rules, most of them. She was fairly certain there were seven, but she could only manage to remember five. One of them was about not screwing with someone's head, meaning 'Ben' was a warlock. A lawbreaker. 

_Black magic is like Legos, fun and easy. That's why you have to be careful. Just because something is fun doesn't make it good and just because something is easy doesn't mean it's better._

She remembered lighting candles and looking at things with the Sight. She remembered the caution about looking people in the eyes for too long. That must have been something she remembered on a subconscious level, because she had always been careful not to do that. 

_Look into someone's eyes too long and you'll trigger a Soul Gaze. On one hand, you can see what a person truly is, but they also see you. And you can't unsee what you see. It will be with you for the rest of your days, no matter what. Sometimes that means seeing some really horrific things, and seeing too many horrible things can hurt you in the long run._

Too many horrible things would likely drive her crazy. Her dad had not wanted to look at her like that, afraid of what she'd see in him. She imagined her father had seen a lot of awful things, even before that day in the jungle when he'd come after her.

Memories of inhuman screams and blood pouring over a stone altar, flowing over the floor towards her as she tried to scrunch away the best she could with her ankle shackled came back to the front of her memories. Maggie stopped and closed her eyes, firmly telling herself to push it back. She couldn't afford to get lost in those nightmares. Ben might already be looking for her. She had to keep moving. Had to keep going forward.

If only she had some pizza. The Little Folk loved pizza.

She tripped to a stop and frowned over that. What did dewdrop faeries eat before her father had started feeding them pizza? There wasn't always pizza, was there?

She poked at her brain as she tried to think if she'd ever heard any stories about faeries. Oddly enough, Ben Matheson hadn't been one to encourage such fancies. He actually discouraged them when Maggie had been telling her and Danny a story that first year she'd been with them. Now that she knew the truth, she wondered if that wasn't to avoid her making any connections between fairy tales and her real life. After all, Dad could hardly hide the fact that he was the Winter Knight from her, no more than he and Molly could hide the fact that there were two houses in the neighborhood with Fae living in them. The protective detail Molly had assigned to watch over her parents and siblings since the angelic secret service in the house wasn't able to interfere with mortal threats, only the supernatural ones.

So what did the little folk eat?

_Think, Maggie, think. You know this. What would people in the Old World have left for the Wee Folk to keep them from pulling pranks or stealing babies?_

It would be something that they couldn't get easily in the NeverNever, the spirit realm where the Fae kingdoms were found. Dad had mentioned it once, explaining how things had changed for them with the commercialization of farming. 

Her memory finally clicked. She unshouldered her pack and pulled out the atlas. She flipped through the back section until she found the map for Wisconsin and looked for the highway she was currently on and searched for a town name she could be fairly certain was still around in some form. Halleyville. She'd heard that town mentioned before, and it wasn't far off the main highway. If she was reading the legend right, fewer than ten miles from her current position. 

She stuffed the atlas back into her pack and picked up her pace. She had three nice rabbit pelts and a couple ones from some sizable squirrels. It helped to be a good enough shot that she could usually hit them in the eye. Made for a nice pelt without any holes. Always a plus when trading. If she was lucky, she'd be able to find everything she needed for what she had to trade.

She made it to the town late afternoon. It was large enough that there were merchant stalls and she browsed around for a bit, looking for the best option. No one vendor had all three items, but one did have both fresh milk and honey and she managed to barter well enough that she got an extra diamond she was able to take to another stand and get some soft rolls that were still warm. She packed the items away carefully before she headed back out of town, keeping her pace neutral and her expression placid as she passed by a few curious glances from some of the men and a small Militia unit set up with a recruitment table. She didn't see those very often. Usually the soldiers just came around and conscripted. 

Maggie made her way off the main road into the treeline, far enough away that she'd bee free from any prying eyes. The trees blocked out much of the remaining sunlight, making it darker. She couldn't risk lighting a fire or an other type of man made light source. It might keep her target away.

She knew only two Names. Names had power. If you knew the true name of someone, you could create a direct link to them. A big no-no if you were talking about a person, but not so much so if you were talking about a dew drop fairy. This far away from Chicago, it may take a while to for one to reach her. Or was time and distance the same in the NeverNever? She thought she remembered something about her dad mentioning that using the Ways through the spirit world was how wizards got around not being able to use cars.

She cleared away some of the underbrush so she could draw a circle in the dirt. Inside that she set out one of the rolls and a generous dollop of honey onto the aluminum plate she salvaged from a rundown hunting cabin and poured some of the milk into an shot glass. She nicked her thumb with her hunting knife and dabbed a bit of blood onto the bottom before backing off into the underbrush. She wiped her hands off on her pants and hoped she'd remembered everything correctly before she closed her eyes, centered herself and started concentrating on the Name of one of the little folk she remembered seeing with her dad.

It took a bit, but not as long as she thought it might. Thankfully she'd learned patience from hunting, so having to stay still and quiet for an extended period of time wasn't especially difficult for her. She probably had to keep it up for a bit over and hour before a soft, lavender glow bobbed through the trees, heading towards the tiny clearing.

Maggie tried not to breathe, or at least not to breathe too loudly. The ball of light got close enough she could see the figure inside of it. About the height of a pre-Blackout fashion doll with a head of lilac colored hair which floated around his face dandelion fluff. He looked graceful and delicate, but she could remember how fierce he could be. The fairy had as much courage as a dozen human men, ready to charge into battle against foes bigger, stronger and meaner than he without hesitation.

The fairy buzzed around the food curiously, looked around the clearing and lowered himself to the forest floor. She watched as he took up the roll, tore off a piece, dredged it through the honey and started to eat. It took a bit for him to work through enough of the roll that he got to he part with her blood on it. The moment he ingested it, the trap sprung, the circle going up around him.

The reaction was instantaneous. The fairy flew up in a haze of sparks and hurled himself against the invisible barrier. “Let me out! Let me out!”

Maggie left her hiding place, her hands extended to show they were empty and trying to keep her voice calm. “It's all right, Toot Toot. It's just me.”

The fairy whirled around, glaring at her. Then he blinked, shook his head and blinked again. He pressed himself against the inside of the circle, his nose pressing flat against the magic wall. “Maggie? Maggie Dresden?”

She sighed in relief. “Yeah, Toot. It's me.”

“You got big!”

She had to laugh. He sounded almost offended by the idea. “I kinda grew up, Toot.”

“Why would you want to do that? Grown up humans never have any fun.”

“I wasn't given much of a choice in the matter.” She knelt by the circle. “I'm going to let you out, but I need you to tell me what's been going on.”

“Yes! Yes! Let me out!” He zipped back down to the food and helped himself to more honey, bread and milk. “We've been looking for you, Maggie. All of Winter has been looking for you.”

She broke the circle and sat cross legged in front of the fairy. She dug the glass jar of milk back out of her pack, shook it up to mix the cream back in from where it had separated from being still for a while, and refilled the shot glass for him. “I've been...under a glamour of sorts. The person who had me, he made me look different. Made my memories different, too. I didn't even know my name.”

The fairy nodded his head emphatically. “They did that to Sir Harry, too. He went home and he became himself again. The Winter Lady said you'd probably be getting your memories back, too. The Leanansidhe, Cat Sith, Lady Molly's house guard, all of them have been looking for you.”

Maggie caught her breath. “My dad's alive?”

The fairy cackled. “Of course he's alive, Maggie! The Winter Mantel never returned to the cold queen. It would have if he'd died, and she would have gotten another night. No, he was prisoner in his own head. Thought he was someone else.”

“Just like me.” Anger roiled in her belly. They'd built her father a life of lies, too. But how? “There is more than one warlock.”

“Yes. A woman. Harry says her name is 'Rachel'. Mab has her, now. Has her imprisoned in Arctic Tor.”

“Rachel? Ben said she was dead.”

“She probably wishes she was, now. Mab is torturing her.”

She couldn't bring herself to feel sorry for that. “Is my dad in Chicago?”

“No, not Chicago. He's in another city far from there. The one they used to called the city where brothers loved one another.”

That didn't sound right. She poked her brain for something. “I don't know a city like that. Does it have a different name?”

“Yes! It has a sandwich named after it. And a type of cheese.”

Well, that didn't help her much. She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. “Where is this city, Toot?”

“On the far side of the continent. It's where the leader of the humans lives. They run it together.”

She frowned. “Lead of the humans? You mean the leader of the Republic? President Monroe?”

“Right! Yes! Harry thought he was someone else. He was the general of Monroe's army. He's back there, now.”

So that meant he was in Philadelphia. Maggie groaned. “That's on the other side of the Republic! It was going to take me another week just to make it to Chicago.” She tore a chunk off the other roll for herself and chewed it thoughtfully as she considered the journey. “What did my dad think his name was?”

“Miles. Miles Matheson.” She nearly choked on her roll. “Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing's wrong.” She gave Toot the other half of her roll. “This would be so much easier if I knew how to open a Way, but we didn't have time to get that far before I was taken.”

“I can get someone to help! I can find the Leanansidhe.”

That would be something, but it may take too long. “I've stayed in one place too long, Toot. The warlock who had me is probably on my trail even now. I have to keep moving. Will you get word to my father that I've got myself back and I'm on my way to him?”

“Yes! I will! I will! Oh, just wait! He'll be so happy that I found you!”

A thought came to her and she hesitated for a moment before acting on it. She reached up under her hair and yanked out a few strands. She wound them into a circle and offered them to the fairy. “Give him these. They might help.”

The fairy took the hairs into his hand with reverence. “I shall deliver them post haste, My Lady.”

Maggie smiled. “Thank you, Toot. You're a life saver.”

The little fairy saluted her, chest puffed out with pride before he zipped away in a cloud of glowing motes of light. Maggie felt some of the tension going out of her shoulders. She didn't know if her father could track her with magic from all the way in Philadelphia, but he did know how to open a Way and could get to this place as quickly as Toot did. That might bring him close enough for a tracking spell to work.

Ben probably knew how to do a tracking spell, too. And there were bits of herself in the house back in Sylvania Estates he could use to find her.

Maggie got to her feet and shouldered her pack. She really did need to keep moving.


	9. Chapter 9

“What do you mean 'it's gone'?”

“Exactly that, Harry. The spell is gone. Completely. There's not even a thread left.”

Bass, Jeremy and Tom all looked up and over at the door of the library where Harry and Molly were supposed to be working on back tracing 'the spell' in hopes of locating his daughter. While they watched, they heard a deep, vicious snarl that could only belong to the tall man and a loud 'thump' against the thick double doors. The wood frosted over in under a second, growing cold enough that there was a noticeable drop in the ambient temperature of the office.

Baker slid his eyes over to Monroe. “That doesn't sound good.”

“No. No it doesn't.”

The wood groaned loudly in protest as the doors were flung open. Neville winced as the thick oak cracked and split down one side, causing one of the doors to break in half. Dresden strolled into the room and headed straight to the wet bar, pouring himself a generous serving of whiskey. Molly stepped just inside the room, watching him.

Harry downed the drink and set the glass back down with a little too much force. His other hand gripped the cart hard enough his knuckles were white. “Dead?”

The young woman shook her head, even though he was turned away from her. “No way for me to tell. It could be that, or the spell could have finally broken on her end.”

“Neither one is a good option. If it's broken, then she'll be confused, scared and isolated from the people she knows she can trust.” He ran a hand over his face. The fire in the hearth blazed into stronger life, threatening to escape the confines of its stone home and climb up the wall.

Bass cleared his throat. “Uhm...Harry?”

Dresden shot him an annoyed look, then noticed the roar of the fire. He sighed, closed his eyes and got himself back under control. “Sorry. And sorry about the door.”

“It's understandable.” Bass handed the plans Tom had drawn up for the audit back to the other man. “This is a good start, Tom. Gather the men you need and let the quartermaster know what supplies and equipment you'll require. I want you to head out on Monday.”

Tom nodded and accepted the folder. “Yes, Mr. President. I'll get right on that.” The man couldn't leave the office fast enough. Though he'd been very skeptical when Bass and Harry had returned, he'd seen enough of Harry to know he didn't want to be on the man's bad side. He had been scary enough as Miles Matheson. As Harry Dresden, a fully trained and practicing wizard with the forces of creation at his beck and call, the man was beyond terrifying.

Jeremy took a break and dared to broach the topic. “I take it we lost our link to your daughter?”

Harry scowled. “It seems that way.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Damn.”

If he was still 'Miles', then Bass would get a bottle of his best whiskey, he and Miles would get nice and toasted and maybe send for a couple of pretty girls from the nearby brothel to help them relax. 

Damn. They'd really become a couple of jaded assholes under that mind whammy. It made him sick to think of the things they'd pulled. 

But, he wasn't Miles any longer. “What can I do to help?”

Harry met his eyes, apparently that was okay after you exchanged a 'soul gaze'. Only one time per customer, it would seem, so the two men could meet each others eyes without trouble. “I don't even know what I can do to help right now. But...thank you.”

“I told you, anything you need.”

The man sighed and collapsed in one of the chairs. “I don't suppose Mac is still in business, is he, Grasshopper?”

“Kind of. The waters flooded the original location, but he relocated to one above ground. The paranetters all chipped in and put down some good wards and the 'Neutral Territory' status transferred over with him.” Molly straightened her suit jacket. “I should go update the searchers on the new development. I'll swing by Chicago and pick up a case for you.”

“Thanks.” He sounded flat. Defeated. Bass' heart hurt with him. He remembered Shelly and the baby. He remembered losing them. 

“What about your other children? How long before we can expect to hear from them?”

“I'll check on that, too. Rashid's position places a lot of demands on him. If need be I should be able to go to the Gates and escort them here personally.” Molly stopped by Harry's chair and gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “We knew the spell would break down, Harry. Let's keep positive.”

“I'm not giving up on her, Molls. I'm just...”

“Frustrated and pissed off.” She shook her head. “I still can't believe that anyone was dumb enough to do this in the first place. You haven't exactly been easy on those who have dared to lay a hand on people you care about in the past.”

Dresden frowned. “Yeah, I've been thinking about that. It doesn't make sense. Whoever they are, they must have been desperate.”

“Or stupid. Or both. I'll try to hurry, but once I step back into the NeverNever there will likely to be horde of Faeries needing something. Shouldn't be gone more than a couple of days.”

“Watch your back, Kid.”

“I will.” She offered Bass and Jeremy a brief smile that didn't quite hide her distress over this recent development. “Take care of this idiot for me, will you? He's important to us.”

Baker gave her a brief salute. Bass gave her a slow nod and waited until the woman was gone before speaking. “Seriously, Harry, what do you need?”

“I need to find my daughter. I need to find that other warlock and rip his damn head off.” Harry growled, his eyes staring at a point on the front of Bass' desk, his expression one of frustration and anger. “I promised myself that no one would do this to her again. No one would take her again. I...I failed her.”

Bass slid a concerned look over at Jeremy. In the past, he'd been the one who went off the deep end when it came to those he loved. 'Miles' had been the one to hold him together. The last thing anyone needed was for him and Harry both to turn into basket cases. “You didn't fail her, Harry. This is a battle. A campaign. We'll find your daughter. And we'll find Ben. We'll find them and we'll bring your girl home.”

“I hope you're right, Bass. God, but I hope you're right.” He accepted another glass of whiskey. “I hadn't realized how much I depended on my friends until now. I always had someone who'd watch my back, even for the stuff on the spooky side of the streets.” Harry sighed. “What I wouldn't give to have Karrin here right now.”

Bass and Jeremy each took a seat nearby, all three men slouching down into the cushions, legs sprawled comfortably. “How'd you two meet? What was she like?”

Dresden let his head fall back, his lips pulling in a soft smile that memories could bring about. “I met her when I was still working as an apprentice under a private investigator. I had to, if I wanted to get my PI license. I was looking for a girl who'd run away from home. Her parents had hired us, but they were treating it like a kidnapping. And they liked the attention so much that they turned around and stabbed us in the back. Said that we took her.”

“Nice.”

“Yeah, there were reasons she ran away from home. Anyway, I found the kid. The kid stumbled on a troll. I faced down the troll and this wet-behind-the-ears beat cop threw in with me. Tiny little thing. Five feet tall, maybe one hundred pounds soaking wet. Blond hair. Blue eyes. Built like a gymnast and tough as nails. Didn't see her again after that until she'd stepped on the wrong toes and was assigned as head of the Special Investigation unit. SI got all the crap cases. The stuff that didn't fit neatly into a box and would usually have no chance of being solved. But Karrin remembered me and remembered the troll. She took a risk and hired me as a consultant. She was willing to open her eyes and see all the weird shit that went down. After a time, she and the SI guys were getting good enough that they were able to handle a lot of things by themselves. SI closed cases. What was a job that usually was a way to set an annoying cop up to fail so he or she could be fired for incompetence she excelled at.”

“She sounds like fun.”

“She was amazing. Crack shot. She had a ton of trophies from competitive firearms competitions. Knew a few different styles of martial arts, too. Pulled my ass out of the fire more than once and was always willing to stand with me even against things that would send most people running scared.” He grinned. “She killed a chlorofiend with a chainsaw once.”

Bass frowned. “A what?”

“Chlorofiend. A plant monster. It was made out of a bunch of trees from the garden center at a Walmart.” Jeremy nearly choked on his whiskey. “What can I say? Faeries have a twisted sense of humor.”

Jeremy frowned. “I thought you worked for the faeries.”

“This was before I took Mab's job offer. And I'm far from being universally loved in Faerie. I have allies there, and there are those who respect me even if they don't like me, but I have a lot of enemies, too.”

That got Bass to thinking. “You think maybe one of them was behind all of this?”

Harry frowned. “It's possible. If so, it'd be one of the Summer Court. If Maeve was still alive and kicking I'd list her as a suspect, but she's long gone and Molly's the Winter Lady, now. Titania wouldn't do this, she knows what is at stake. Sarissa, the summer Lady, wouldn't do it, because Mab is her mother and she doesn't have the mommy issues like her sister did. And neither of the mothers would be behind this.”

“I don't get it. Why wouldn't you think the other side would target Mab by removing you from her service?”

“Because the queens of Summer are well aware that the Winter Court is the one holding the Outer Gates. They outnumber Summer probably... five to one or more. They could take Summer if they wanted, but they don't. They have the superior numbers because someone has to keep the things outside the Gates out of our reality.”

“What's out there?”

Harry met Bass' eyes. “Think Lovecraftian. They aren't part of our world or even our existence. And if they got here, they'd crush mankind.” He let that sink in a moment. “I've been to the Outer Gates only once. It was terrifying. It's a siege, with them trying to get in and the soldiers of the Winter Court keeping them out. It never stops. If Winter fell away from the Gates, this world would be lost.”

Bass suppressed a shudder. It wouldn't be Presidential. He met Jeremy's eyes. The other man responded by downing the rest of his drink and pouring himself another. 

There was a chorus of surprised yelps from the hallway, followed by a high-pitched, trilling voice shouting “Out of my way! Out of my way! Move, you overgrown, potato-nosed.... _human_!” The 'human' was spat with all the venom of someone trying to think of a stinging epitaph.

Harry straightened in his chair, his brow furrowed. “It can't be.”

Bass was getting up. “Can't be what?” He saw a slow smile touch Dresden's lips. “Who is it?”

Harry started walking to the door leading to the hallway. He threw it open and laughed before stepping back and allowing something that was about a foot tall and surrounded in a halo of lavender light fly, yes _fly_ into the room. 

“It's all right.” He waved to the guards to let them know to stand down. “It's all right. I know him. Don't feel bad. Usually he doesn't let anyone see him. He must think you're special.” He shut the door in the guards' faces and turned around as the ball of light circled the room twice and eventually came to rest on Bass' desk. Once still, they could see that it was a tiny man with wings, about the height of a pre-Blackout Ken doll. His hair was a pale lilac in color, his face hauntingly beautiful. He was dressed in what looked like miniature chain maille made from some silvery metal and woven so finely that it looked almost liquid. He even had a delicate, graceful sword, sized to him perfectly.

“What is that?”

Harry sauntered over, a pleased smile still on his face. “Bass, Jeremy, this is General Toot Toot Minimus. He's in charge of my guard. Or, at least he was. I'm not sure I have one any longer now that there's no more pizza.”

The little winged man looked affronted at the idea. “Of course you still have a guard, Harry!” He switched from affronted to a little abashed. “There were some deserters, but not from the original guard. Mostly from the militia.”

Bass looked to Harry in askance. “Were they all this size?”

“Nah. Toot's big for his people. He's one of the little folk. I'm surprised you came in so boldly, Toot. You're usually careful about not being seen.”

“Sorry, My Lord, but they were taking too long in getting out of my way!”

“All right, that's fine. What do you have for me, Toot?”

The little fairy hesitated, cocking his head to one side. “Huh?”

Bass and Jeremy both blinked. Harry gave the fairy a patient smile. “You were in a hurry to see me. Why?”

“Oh! Oh, yes! I found her!”

That made all three men pause. “You found...Maggie?”

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” The little figure zipped up and did a somersault in the air, glowing motes of light trickling in his wake. “I found bread and milk and honey in a patch in some woods, and she was there. Set a trap just like you taught her when she was little.” He came to light on the desk again, his face screwing up in outrage. “She got big! Foolish girl went and let herself grow up!”

Harry looked like he might crumple on knees no longer able to support his weight. “Where, Toot? Where did you see Maggie?”

“Oh, far away from here. She couldn't stay, said that someone was looking for her, but she gave me this to give to you.” He pulled what looked like a knot of hair from inside the little maille shirt. “She thought it might help you find her.”

Harry took the knot of hair in trembling fingers, his eyes growing shiny with unshed tears. “Thank you, Toot.” There was a wealth of gratitude in his voice. “Thank you.”

Bass shook his head. This was all so very surreal. If he weren't living it, he'd never believe any of it. “Well, then. Sounds like we need to gear up and get moving. Sounds like we have a damsel to save.”


	10. Chapter 10

_Maggie. It's time to wake up, Sweetheart. You have to get moving._

Maggie awoke with a jerk, her fingers wrapping around the hilt of her hunting knife out of reflex. It had been raining the night before and she'd been fortunate enough to find a deserted cabin that looked as though no one had been there for probably a couple of years. She hadn't risked starting a fire in the hearth, the flue didn't look incredibly clean and she didn't want to wake up to a chimney fire, so she woke up shivering. 

Forcing herself to get up, she swallowed some water and dug the remaining rabbit haunch from her pack to eat while walking. The rain had stopped, leaving an uncomfortable biting chill in the air. She wished she had some gloves but there was little to be done about that now. Shouldering her pack, she headed out for another long day of walking.

She'd changed her direction so that she was headed towards Philadelphia instead of Chicago. Unfortunately, she doubted she'd make it all the way there before the weather turned too cold to be out in the elements. She'd need a place to wait out the winter, and that had her thinking. A city was likely her best bet, but it was far from safe. Bad things could happen to a young woman alone in a city. On the other hand, if Ben tracked her down, he'd be less likely to cause a ruckus in a crowded place.

She'd have to start hunting daily. She would need even more pelts for trade. There were some sizable settlements between her and Philly, but the nearest one was still more than a week away. She'd keep her kills small until she was closer, then see if she could get a deer. Butchers would usually pay for good venison and the hide would fetch a better price. If she came into town with proof that she could bring down good sized game, then she could likely earn funds supplying meat. It would only be until the temperatures warmed up enough to start traveling again.

Unless her father found her. 

Of course her father would find her. He'd taken on an army of monsters to rescue her when he'd never even met her. Now he knew he had a daughter and she knew he loved her. He would come for her.

Until then, however, she would have to carry on as though she was on her own. Just to play it smart and safe.

_Preparation is everything, Mags. Wizards can do a lot of impressive things, but we need to be prepared. If you get caught flat footed, you can find yourself in a world of hurt._

She didn't even know enough magic to be prepared, so she'd have to keep at least three steps ahead of the warlock. She was fairly certain Ben didn't know how to hunt or track, though he might be able to do a tracking _spell_ like her father so that second one wasn't a gimme. 

“So, Miss Margaret, you're going to have to be smarter than him. He might be a bit scary warlock who can twist your mind into a tangle and make you forget your name, your family and that there even is such a thing as magic, but you're a crack shot.”

Great. Now she was giving herself pep talks. Maybe she was going crazy after all.

Could she really shoot the man? He had raised her.

“Yeah, but he wouldn't have had to if he hadn't kidnapped me in the first place. I was perfectly safe in Chicago with Karrin and Dad. _This_ is all about my dad. There's no reason for someone to kidnap just me, and Toot said that Dad was screwed with, too.”

Now she was talking to herself. Was insanity supposed progress this quickly?

“Keep your mind on the journey, Stupid.” 

She reset her pack straps and kept moving.

~***~

She'd taken to keeping to the tree line. There simply was no way to know if wagon or horse hooves belonged to a friendly or a potential threat. It made traversing more difficult and slowed her down somewhat as she worked to avoid tripping over underbrush. It also meant that if Ben was trying to track her, he would be gaining ground.

“Or, just maybe, he's back at the house with Maggie and Danny.” Okay, that sounded odd even to her. Her 'step-mother' had the same name as she. That was just...weird.

“But she's not your step-mother. Karrin is your step-mother.” She grimaced. “No, that's not right. Karrin was 'Mom'. Oh, for crying out loud, Mags, stop talking to yourself!”

She stopped, put her hands over her eyes and shook her head briefly. This whole fiasco was definitely driving her nuts. Forcing herself to take deep, measured breaths, she got herself back under control and started moving again.

~***~

Bass and Jeremy watched as Harry crouched down inside a circle he'd sketched in the dirt. Major General Toot Toot Minimus ('Toot' for short) hovered in the air just to the left of Bass' shoulder. “What is he doing?”

“Harry's looking for Maggie.” The fairy was shedding little glowing motes as his wings buzzed. “That's why she gave me the hairs.”

“Ah.”

Harry reached out and pulled a finger through the dirt to mar the circle before standing up. The battered silver pentacle he'd been wearing around his neck when he'd returned from the island was now dangling from its chain in his hand. As they watched him, the pendant swung out as though pulled by an invisible magnet. 

Jeremy gave a low whistle. “Is that a positive?”

“Yep.” Harry's lips curved in a wolfish grin. “Mags went that way.”

“Damn, that's a handy trick.”

“Oddly enough, it's my specialty. Used to work was a private investigator in Chicago. Even advertised in the yellow pages under 'Wizard'. Believe it or not, I was the only one.”

Bass cut off a snort. “Imagine that. People must have thought you were nuts.”

“Most did. Those who were in the know, however, knew better. This way.” He started walking in the direction the pendant was pointing. Jeremy and Bass followed.

She was sticking to the old highways. That could be both good and bad. There were larger settlements along the highways, most of them filled with good people, but it also increased the chances of her running into someone not-so-nice. Though he knew his daughter was just south of twenty-one now, his mind kept picturing her as the the kid she was the last time he'd seen her. Just having come into a growth spurt that had been helping her catch up to the other kids her age.

Damn. He hoped that had slowed down. It was okay for him to be taller than most pre-Blackout pro basketball players. It wasn't nearly as cool for a girl to be just a few inches shy of seven feet. 

Then again, most men were too insecure and shallow to go for a girl that much taller than they. He wouldn't mind that too much. Fewer legs to break.

~***~

What was she doing out here?

What had she been thinking? 

She wasn't prepared to be out on her own. 

She resituated her pack on her shoulders. The rabbit haunch she'd eaten that morning was gone. She'd stumbled across a small stand of black walnut trees and had stopped long enough to gather some. It had taken time to smash open the shells to extract the flesh inside, but Maggie had always been a fan of nuts. She remembered the lessons about how they were healthy and a good source of proteins and healthy fats. 

If she'd stayed home she'd be sitting down for a hot meal right now. Their village was small, but with all the fresh game she brought in and Maggie's excellent medical care the other people in the settlement shared their meager supplies with them. It was a good trade. In exchange for what her family had to offer they got fresh milk, cheeses and warm clothing. 

She missed her bed. Missed Danny. Dad would be so mad that she'd run away, but he'd forgi...

Maggie tripped to a stop. What the hell?

She shook her head, reminding herself that Ben Matheson was not her father. Danny Matheson was not her brother. Her father was Harry Dres...

She should turn around and go home. She should stop this foolishness and go back to Sylvania Estates, where it was safe and there were people who loved her.

She jerked herself out of it again, a cold sensation of fear sliding down her spine. 

Ben.

Maggie slammed her eyes shut and directed her thoughts and will inward. _Get out! Get out! GET OUT, GET OUT, **GET OUT!!**_

The insidious thoughts trying to reestablish themselves in her brain were shoved aside. A heaviness that had been settling into her feet and legs lifted. Heart pounding, she gripped her crossbow more tightly and took off running. It was too dangerous to go that fast within the treeline, the terrain unfamiliar to her and uneven. Needing to be able to pick up speed she made beeline for the abandoned highway. Her lungs were already burning by the time she broke free of the forest, startling a pair of does who were grazing on the tall grass. Her boots hit the aging asphalt and she picked up speed, running eastwards.

~***~

Bless his alter ego and his spoiled little heart. Maybe it had been an echo of the time he'd spent in Hog Hollow, Missouri on his grandfather's farm, but as Miles Matheson he'd had a great eye for horses. The mounts they had taken from the capital stables and brought thru the Never Never with them were strong, hardy and fast as greased lightning. 

And the saddles were far more comfortable than anything he'd used in the past. Either that or he was just enjoying the results of over a decade of having to get around by horseback.

Harry pulled up briefly to check the spell again. Bass and Jeremy flanked him, eyes skirting the area around them for any signs of trouble so he could concentrate on the pendant. It swung up and to the east. “Just as I thought. She changed direction after Toot let her know where I was. Moving more towards the east and less towards the north.”

Bass shook his head, his lips quirking. “She's planning to walk to Philadelphia? Stubbornness runs in the family, I see.”

“From both sides. Her mother was just as bad.”

“Can't wait to meet her.” They were in the clear. “Press on?”

Harry slipped his pentacle back over his head and took the reins back up. “Definitely. I'd rather not leave her to sleep out in the wilds for another night. I don't want to press her luck.” They turned their horses to the slightly different direction and spurred them horses back into action.

They had to stop a few more times to check the direction and make certain they were still on the right trail. The sun was getting lower in the sky by the time they broke free of the treeline and onto the highway. They moved more quickly over the smoother terrain with the exception of a few places where they had to maneuver around long abandoned cars. 

“Hey!” Baker's voice caught Harry's attention. He slowed down so they could communicate more easily. “Did you see that?”

“See what?”

Jeremy was peering ahead. “Someone just made a break for the trees. Up there.”

“You sure?”

He rolled his eyes. “In case you don't remember, I got better eyesight than either of you. I'm sure.”

“All right, then. Let's check it out.” Harry patted his horse on the side of the neck and got him back to a canter. Bass and Jeremy followed. When they got to the spot where Jeremy had seen the person they found a place in the high grass that had been disturbed by someone's passage. He took out the pentacle and checked it. His heart nearly leaped from his chest as it swung up quickly, pointing right into the treeline. 

Harry dismounted. Bass and Jeremy followed suit. He met Bass' eyes with a nod. His new/old friend returned the nod with a fierce smile. They looped the horses' reigns around a low hanging branch to encourage them to stay put before setting out in the dimly lighted woods.

His memories as Miles were integrated well enough with his mind as Harry that he had little trouble in tracking without the pendant, but he still kept the necklace in his hand. It never hurt to use all available resources. The strength of the pull on the chain was indicative of how close they were to Maggie. It was strong enough now that if he let go of the chain the pendant would probably fly off on its own, pulled towards her like a magnet.

“Maggie? Can you hear me?” His voice sounded unnaturally loud in the woods. The wildlife fell silent. He centered himself, standing still in the woods, and Listened. 

Listening, with a capital “L”, was something that he had learned to do. It took a bit of effort and the willingness to concentrate. It let him hear more than he would normally and had come in handy when he wanted to hear what the bad guys were saying. Once Wizard Rashid and taken advantage of the skill to whisper information to him during a meeting of the White Council so that no one else would be able to hear. 

Now he used it to see if he could hear someone moving through the woods. There...delicate steps reminiscent of a deer picking its way through the underbrush on dainty hooves. The skitter of a squirrel making its way up the trunk of a tree with the funny start/stop way they had about them. The breeze rustling through the limbs of the trees around them. 

The scuff of a booted foot and the creak of leather.

He looked at the pendant, still tugging against his fingers off towards the right. “Maggie? It's all right.”

There was a rustle from that direction. He flicked his eyes that way, his other than motioning for Bass and Jeremy to remain still. He couldn't see her. She was using the terrain and trees about her to remain hidden from sight. “Dad?”

His heart nearly sprung from his chest. “Yeah.” His throat felt tight. “Yeah, it's me.”

There was a cautious silence, then “Bleed.”

Bass frowned. “What?”

Harry felt a stab of pride and relief. He dismissed the spell on the pendant and slipped the necklace back on. “No, it's all right.” He pulled out the wicked combat knife that he'd reclaimed from his general's uniform. That, the boots, the sword and the flask were the only things he'd kept of it. “It's not a perfect test, but it's a good one. Plenty of things can make themselves look like someone.” He ran the knife over his palm and held it up towards the trees where he hoped she could see it. “Few of them have natural looking blood, if they bleed at all.” Crimson drops trickled from his hand to fall on the forest floor.

“Dad!” A slender, dark haired form broke out the trees, rushing towards him. He barely had time to take her in before she crashed into him, her arms going around him in a fierce hug. The crossbow she was carrying crashed into his back with a painful smack. 

“Ouch. Easy kid. You should be gentle with old people.” She only hugged him more tightly. He wrapped his arms about her and buried his nose in her hair. She smelled of fresh air, smoke and fall leaves. 

“Someone got in my head. Made me think I was someone else.” Her voice trembled a bit as she spoke, her face still half buried in his chest. “Made me look different, too. When I came back to myself, I had blonde hair and blue eyes.”

Baker exchanged a look with Bass. “They can do that, too?”

Harry leaned back to take in her now dark hair and eyes. “How'd you break it?”

She shrugged. “I remembered you said you can't do anything with magic you don't believe it. So I believed that I could. Imagined that I was just washing it off, like ink.”

He grinned at her. “So you remember your lessons.”

“What little we covered.” She shuddered. “He's close, Dad. I felt him this morning, trying to get back in my head. Trying to make me turn back around. So I ran until I couldn't keep it up anymore.”

Harry's expression grew dark. “Yeah, well, I wanna have a talk with him anyway.” He rubbed her shoulders. “For now, though, we should get somewhere we can all sleep. And get something to eat. We brought rations with us, so dinner's on us.” He turned her to face the other two men. “Maggie, these are my friends Sebastian Monroe and Jeremy Baker. They've been watching my back since this whole thing started and have saved my ass more than once.”

Maggie offered a somewhat uncertain smile at the two men, feeling suddenly shy around other adults. Other than her father, Karrin and the Carpenters, life had thus far taught her there were few people she could trust. 

Jeremy gave her a warm smile and a nod of his head. Sebastian's grin was almost boyish as he extended a hand. 

“Hello, Maggie. It's nice to finally meet you.”


End file.
